


CoSL 29: Beastly Burdens

by Dracophile



Series: Grimm-The Casebook of Sloane Larson [29]
Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Animal Transformation, Blood, F/M, Hallucinations, Horror, Hunters & Hunting, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mental Instability, Reunions, monster hunting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:42:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 35,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26564548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dracophile/pseuds/Dracophile
Summary: There's a beast in Portland! A strange animal has been seen the last few months in the woods and the city, and it's drawn the attention of a famous hunter. But after Bud has a close encounter, he's not so sure it's a monster and let's Nick know. It's now a race to try and get to it before it ends up as a trophy on the hunter's wall. Things aren't always what they appear though and the stakes might be even higher than they realize.
Relationships: Nick Burkhardt/Original Female Character(s), Rosalee Calvert/Monroe
Series: Grimm-The Casebook of Sloane Larson [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1061588
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	CoSL 29: Beastly Burdens

**_“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?”_ **

\---------------------

**Beastly Burdens**

\---------------------

Larry Messina woke with a start when he heard the alarm go off, almost falling out of his chair at the security desk. He quickly sat up, looking at the video screens, almost knocking over his mug of cold coffee with the _Marston Chemicals_ logo printed on the side. An onboarding present that most kept their pens in, but he actually put to its intended purpose most nights. It would help if the coffee in the office was better.

Looking at the monitors he saw a shadow passing through the back and quickly got up to go to the back door. Several people in black were taking boxes and barrels from storage, rushing them out to an unmarked truck. “H-Hey!” He raised his gun. “Stop right there!”

They stopped and looked up. “The rent-a-cop is here…” one of them muttered.

“You all, get down!” Larry yelled. He tensed when he felt a tall, broad presence behind him.

“No…you get down.” Larry turned and screamed as the man turned into a bear and grabbed him, sinking teeth into his shoulder. The others went back to loading their stolen goods onto the truck without a care for the mauling in front of them. When they were done, one of them sprayed four lines over the garage door before they rode off, leaving Larry’s body in front.

\---------------------

“So, she’s settled in alright?” Rosalee asked, watching Diana play on the floor of the living room.

“Yeah,” she smiled. “I know she was still a bit nervous last time, but I think she’s really settled in well.” She looked at them with a little bit more guilt. “I know it must be weird for us to be here…”

Rosalee sighed. “It’s…okay. The house is paid for, fixed up, all that. And Sloane isn’t dead, but we can work that out when she comes back…I refuse to believe she won’t.”

Adalind nodded, sighing. She knew the more time passed, the harder it was to believe that. But she hoped it was true. “When she does, I’m happy to work something else out. I’ve got Diana now, that’s all that matters to me, so as long as we stay together I’ll do what I need to.”

“How’s job hunting going?”

“Uh, not bad…my old firm showed some interest.”

“Oh, that’s good right?”

“…Not…exactly…”

“Why not?”

“That firm was very wesen oriented. If they find out I’m currently…not at my A game, they might not be as keen…”

“Oh…”

“Plus, there’s Diana—I’m not sure what to do yet about that. Kelly of course is great, but I don’t want her to feel like a live-in nanny or anything…”

“I think she enjoys it,” Rosalee smiled. “But it shouldn’t be hard to find a babysitter with the suppressant on her too.”

As she said this, Adalind saw Diana’s eyes glow and one of the blocks begin to rise out of the corner of her eye. She as nonchalantly as she could put her foot on it and pushed it down. “Yes, that’s true…”

“We were working on the whole ‘don’t do this in public’ thing when I was traveling with her,” Kelly said, sipping her tea. She had a new eyepatch—a custom order from a friend in Bavaria that worked with leather. Brandy brown leather with embossed scrollwork and braiding around the edges. She’d wanted a skull but determined that might be too pirate-like after talking with Nick. (She got the skull too anyway, she figured it would be a good special occasion type.)

“Yes, and I appreciate that,” Adalind said honestly.

“Are these “Hadrian’s Wall” characters still around?” Rosalee asked.

“Susannah and Meisner check in at least once a week. But neither Henrietta nor I have gotten calls about consulting like they said. I’m guessing Juliette is managing…or Eve or…whatever her name is.”

“That’s a whole other issue,” Rosalee sighed.

“Tell me about it…”

“…I’m worried about Nick,” Kelly said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have left…”

“You think he’s doing badly?” Rosalee asked.

“Not badly, but I’ve been talking with Hank and Wu. Nice boys by the way.”

“We like them,” Rosalee smiled.

She hummed but went on. “Nick hasn’t been…social. It seems he just goes to work, then goes home. If the work isn’t wesen related he’s not quite as into it, and even then if it’s not Black Claw he’s a bit less pressing. But I know for a fact he’s been training when he’s not at work. He wants to take them down, but I think he wants to prove to Hadrian’s Wall he can do it without them…”

“Why though?” Adalind asked, frowning.

“…I’m worried he’s throwing himself into Black Claw and training to not think about Juliette and Sloane. I told him he needs to just confront those feelings, but I don’t think he’s fully healed. Then again, I probably haven’t either. I took a lot of pleasure killing Kimura and the others for what they did to my husband and friend…”

“Um…not that I’m not happy for you, but we agreed to downplay the whole “illing-kay” in front of Diana,” Adalind said.

Kelly smiled. “Sorry, it slipped.”

“…Should Nick see a therapist about all this?” Rosalee suggested.

She sighed. “Honestly, we all could probably use some therapy, but I don’t know any who could help with Grimm issues…I think if he could just get closure, for both of them…”

Rosalee grimaced but nodded. “I guess…we just keep taking this one day at a time. I mean, we have to have some kind of break through about Sloane soon…”

\-------------------------

Nick was punching the bag he’d hung up in the loft, some ACDC playing in the background to try and keep his thoughts at bay. The music was interrupted when his phone rang and he sighed, stopping the bag from swaying and going over. Hank’s work number came up and he answered it. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Hey. Got a case…and a mark was left,” Hank said.

Nick’s hand balled up. “So, they’re finally back after being quiet a couple of months…”

“Yeah. I’ll text you the address. We gotta body with it.”

“I’m not surprised…I’ll see you there.”

“See you.”

Nick hanged up and went to jump in the shower and get dressed to head out. When he got to the chemical company, he found Hank and Wu around the side at the loading docks. One of the doors was obviously forced open and nearly crushed, and it was also the one with the four-line claw mark across it. The body of the night watchman was in front, his shoulder bleeding but it looked more like he’d been crushed to death.

“Hey,” Wu said, waving as he walked up. “Just got info on the vic. Name’s Larenzo Messina. 24, originally from southern California. No priors, comes back clean. Guy’s the night security guard, only been here about a year. Seems he surprised a bunch of thieves…”

Nick frowned. “What was taken?”

Wu sighed and looked at his notes. “According to them, a large amount of Vanadium—used mainly as a catalyst in Sulfuric Acid production they said—and Iron Powder. Everything else is…kind of beyond me.” He showed them and Hank raised his eyebrows.

“That’s a lot of words I don’t know…”

“No kidding,” Nick said. “What would Black Claw want with all this?” he asked quiet enough only they could hear.

“No idea, but it can’t be good,” Wu said.

They nodded and Nick sighed. “Let’s start looking everything over. Figure out what these are used for after we’ve cleared the scene.”

They nodded and started looking everything over. As Nick was going around the side he noticed a flier taped to the bulletin board that showed a monster-like silhouette roaring at the viewer, with the city on one side and the forest on the other. Blinking, he grabbed it and read it more clearly.

 _The Hunt is On!_ It read across the top. _We’ll get the Willamette Wild Thing, dead or alive! If you have information, contact H. Rider Grosvenor at news@ruggedrider.com! Cash reward possible for verifiable information! Videos welcome!_

“What the heck is this?” Nick asked, frowning.

“You haven’t heard?” Wu asked. “The Willamette Wild Thing?”

“…What?”

Hank shook his head. “You haven’t watched the news enough lately. It’s been a big thing the last few months. People have been seeing this “monster” at night. Both in town and in the woods.”

“Monster?”

“Yeah. I was thinking of asking you about it—considering things like the Chupacabra ended up being wesen,” Wu said. “But you’ve been kind of…Distant, lately.”

Nick flinched a bit and sighed. “Yeah, sorry, I just…haven’t really felt up to socializing…”

Wu and Hank shared a look but didn’t press. Wu took the flier to look at it and frowned. “This Rider Grosvenor guy…He’s that crazy rich guy that likes to hunt. Owns like a huge camping and outdoor survival company.”

“Yeah, he got in trouble for killing a rhino a couple of years ago, right?” Nick asked, remembering the name.

“Yeah, but if you got enough money your PR team can work to bury it. Now he wants the Wild Thing though…”

Nick looked at it again and frowned. “…Has it hurt anyone?”

“Nah. Just scared them, but no one’s gotten hurt that we know of.”

“You worried about it?” Hank asked.

“Well…what if it is some kind of wesen? If it hasn’t hurt anyone, does it really deserve to be hunted down like this? My ancestors might think so, but I don’t.”

“I’m not sure it’s even real,” Hank said. “For all we know it was just a cougar. It’s rare to see one around here but then people might not recognize it.”

“That’s true, but Nick still has a point,” Wu said. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this “dead or alive” thing either. Gonna be real awkward for everyone involved if it is wesen and turns back to a human after they kill it. Not sure Grosvenor’s PR team can fix that…”

Hank grimaced, remembering the Wildermann incident. Nick nodded and folded up the flier, putting it in his jacket. “Let’s ask Monroe and Rosalee about it. I want to update them on Black Claw later anyway.”

“Yeah, guess we can’t ask to deal with one problem at a time…” Wu sighed.

\----------------------

Bud was on the north side of the city, dropping of some paint to a recycling center. It was the middle of September and the weather was dipping more and more into the cool fall temperatures. More so now in the evenings after the sun set. Halloween decorations were already being put up—paper leaves and carved pumpkins and monsters that were honestly laughable given some of the wesen he knew. His wife had wanted him to wait, but he wanted to get it over and done with. The leftover paint had been sitting in his garage for a couple of months now after finishing fixing Sloane’s house up for Adalind and he decided it was time to clear it out. He just had forgotten about late afternoon traffic.

As he was heading back to his car, he heard footsteps behind him and paused to look back hesitantly. Nothing was there and he breathed out. But when he turned back around, he gasped when he was confronted with three men. They didn’t look friendly—in fact, he’d call the thugs. Just not to their faces. “Oh, uh, hey there…didn’t see you come up.”

“You get any money from the recycling enter, old man?”

“Old…well, I wouldn’t say I’m old. Uh, but I also didn’t, no, I was dropping off paint and they actually make you pay for that.”

“Well, you got any cash on you?”

“…N-no, um, not really a cash person. You know, I gotta get home. The wife and kids are probably worried about me,” he stuttered, trying to move around them.

He yelped when another put a hand in front of him. “You got a debit card then? Maybe you can be a good Samaritan. Get is a little cash for the needy.”

“I…um, well, I try to be charitable…” he said, swallowing.

“That’s what we like to hear.” Bud started towards them, then turned and began running. “Hey!”

_Nick’s place is near here, I can get there, and it’ll be safe!_

He heard them running after him and Bud grimaced, wondering if he was being dumb running. Then he tripped over a box in one of the alleys and yelped when he fell.

“You should’ve just played along, old man!”

Bud looked up as they advanced down the alley and felt his heart hammering in his head. “H…Help! Someone!”

“I’m going to shut you up for good—” They all paused when they heard what sounded like heavy footsteps above. Then something roared and landed between them. It rose on its hind legs and the boys paled and backed away as it growled like thunder from a storm threatening the horizon.

“What the hell is that?!”

“Monster!”

It snarled and advanced and they turned and ran, screaming. Bud was frozen on the ground. He could see the creature’s back—a long black coat tinged in snow white, but with scaled, spikey ridges up the spine that looked black in the dim light of the alley. It was the size of a Grizzly bear, at least eight feet tall when it stood on its hind legs, but built like a cross between a bear, cat and dog. Large forelimbs and chest sloping back to smaller but no less powerful hind quarters. Pointed ears flicked back and forth as it watched them run, listening for danger. It slowly relaxed down onto all fours. Then it turned and Bud gasped and backed away, woging with a short scream. The scream was cut off mid pitch when he saw something he didn’t anticipate—but before he could say anything the beast leapt up high and an actually climbed up the brick exterior of the building before running away across the roofs. Bud stared after it before standing to run away again.

\-----------------

“They stole a bunch of chemicals?” Monroe asked, chewing around a bite of the vegan pasta bowl he ordered while the rest of them ate pizza at the shop.

“Yeah. We sent the list to local universities but while some interact with each other, there’s no poison or other kind of things they know of that would cause these interactions,” Hank said.

“That they know of,” Rosalee sighed. “You have the list?”

Nick pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to her. “You think you can find something?”

“I’m better with herbs, but I might be able to figure a little out and ask around.”

“I wish we had more to research with,” Nick sighed. “The trailer’s still gone, we only have a few of Sloane’s books…”

“Hey, not sure this would be in the books either,” Monroe pointed out. “I mean, you were updating yours but think how much we’ve learned on our own.”

“The Library would be more useful…” Nick sighed. “Last I heard, they’re still looking for a new Librarian. I asked mom if she wanted to do it but she said Aunt Marie trained as a Librarian and she’d have to find someone willing train her with half her vision gone…Grimms are still kind of behind with accessibility it seems.”

“Not that surprised, sorry,” Monroe said. “But still, we’ve done a lot without it.”

“True…speaking of things I don’t know though,” he fished into his pocket and pulled out the flier. “What do you think of this?”

“Oh, the Wild Thing,” Monroe said, giving a tight smile. Rosalee looked equally put out. “Bringing all the crypto kooks back again…”

“Crypto kooks?” Wu asked, arching his brow.

“They came looking for Big Foot before, then aliens—”

“Which were the Wildermann and the Glühenvolk, respectively,” Rosalee interjected.

“And they’re going to come in acting all crazy and trouncing through the forests and causing damage and ruckus and it’s going to be awful.”

“And that’s not taking the hunters into account,” Rosalee said in disgust. “I’ve got nothing against hunting for food obviously, but trophy hunters are awful. Like that guy who wanted to skin the Glühenvolk—even the baby!”

“Well, some big trophy hunter’s after this one. Rider Grosvenor?” Nick said.

“Ugh, him,” she sneered.

“Guys a jerk,” Monroe nodded. He pulled out his phone and did a quick search before handing it to Nick. “This is him. And what he has to say about the Wild Thing.”

Nick took the phone and arched his brow at the man on screen. He was older than Nick expected, with silver hair and a well-trimmed beard. He struck him as being very Sean Connery like, but the cocky look was more off-putting than charming. He pressed play on the video and the man started talking with a thick French-Creole accent. “Good morning, my friends. Your uncle Rider is here to tell you I’ll be going on a new adventure to Portland, Oregon, this week. There is a beast on the loose! Something that looks very different to anything we’ve seen before!” The video cut to another video taken on someone’s shaky phone, showing a big shape in the distance of the woods and the person on camera screaming and running when eyes shining in the camera light turned to them without showing much detail. “But what makes this even more interesting is how bold this beast is! It is even hunting in the city!” Another video popped up, showing a large creature jumping between rooftops and more people screaming in fear and excitement. “They’re calling it “The Willamette Wild Thing”. Tres droll, yes? Well, I’m interested! So, I’ll see you there, mon amis, as I hunt this creature down! Now I will try to take him alive, and if so, give him over to the Oregon Zoo. If I can’t and I have to shoot it…well, I’ll make sure he gets where he needs to go. As always, you can find updates here on the Rugged Rider website, along with everything I use and my own products.” A logo popped of the company name that looked as though it was in the jaws of a ferocious animal.

The video stopped and Nick frowned deeply, going back to look at the videos. “How did I not hear about this?”

“You’ve been preoccupied,” Monroe said gently.

“But this is near my home!” he said, rewinding to the shot of the city.

Monroe looked surprised and took the phone back, watching it. “The loft?”

“Yeah! It’s like a block away!”

“You ever hear anything?” Hank asked.

“…Just raccoons. I thought.” He sighed and rubbed his temple. “I think I’ve been preoccupied with Black Claw too long before now…But I was going ask if this thing is a wesen.”

Monroe and Rosalee looked at one another and then both shook their heads. “I don’t think so. I mean if it is, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. Those videos make it look huge! But it doesn’t move like a Wokenkratzer or a siegbarste,” Monroe said.

“It’s like a big animal,” Rosalee agreed. “If it was a wesen, a smart one at least, it wouldn’t be coming into the city like this either…”

“Yeah, out in the woods it’s one thing to free the beast, so to speak. But you can see what it’s caused here.”

“Still…I don’t want someone like Grosvenor to get it,” Rosalee sighed. “He’d probably kill it and stuff it, regardless of his zoo talk. If it is a rare wesen or animal or anything…Gah! I don’t just want to sit by and let him do that!”

Monroe smiled both fondly and wanly. “I know, hon, but this is a bit different than before. I mean, we can’t just catch a giant animal.”

“I know…and I really don’t want to protest. I’ve seen the people that are and they’re…”

“Crazy hippies?” Wu guessed.

“Yeah, kind of,” she nodded.

They all chuckled a little and kept eating. It was only a few minutes later they heard someone pounding at the door urgently. Monroe frowned but stood, motioning the others to wait as he walked over. Nick was standing, ready to fight though in case it was Black Claw. Monroe pulled the shade up and then relaxed. “It’s Bud.”

He opened the door and Bud rushed in. “Monroe! Is Nick here!?” Monroe just pointed behind Bud, rather used to his anxious entrances. Bud turned and rushed over. “Nick! Nick! You will not believe what just happened.”

“What?” Nick asked.

“Y-you heard of that thing, right? The Wild Thing?”

Nick looked at the others and then nodded. “We were just talking about it…”

“Well I just saw it! Up close and personal!”

They all were alert then. “You what? How?” Rosalee asked.

“I was dropping some stuff off at the recycling center near Lexington when these—these hoodlums came out of nowhere and started threatening me! But I didn’t have any cash. They started talking about ATMs and I knew that might not end well if I went with them, s-so I ran.”

“I heard there was some guys making trouble, but I hadn’t caught them yet,” Nick sighed. “Are you okay, Bud?”

“No, yeah, I’m actually pretty fast. No one expects it. But then I turned down an alley, near King street—”

“That’s near where the video of the Wild Thing was,” Monroe said.

“Yeah! I didn’t think I’d see it in person though! But then I tripped into garbage!” He gestured, showing he was still rather filthy from his spill. “I thought I was going to end up with them beating me up or worse, but then the beast, it…”

“It what?” Nick asked, worried.

“Well, it jumped down from above somehow, between them and me. Like wheeew, BAM! And it roared really loud and it scared them off. Scared me pretty good too, I’m not ashamed to say! It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen! Huge, and hairy and the claws and teeth—”

“Did it hurt you?”

“No! No, it didn’t hurt anyone, just scared them! But Nick, that’s not the important bit!”

“There’s more?” Wu asked, disbelieving.

“Oh yeah! Nick, this thing turned to look at me and I woged I was so scared.”

“Well, that’s understandable,” Rosalee said.

“Yeah, I’d probably do something a lot worse,” Hank said.

“That’s not the weird part!” He said, impatient with them. “Nick, I saw it’s eyes when I woged. And they turned black like a Grimm’s!”

\-----------------------------

Adalind smiled as she carried Diana to her crib from the reading corner in the room. She had decorated the nursery herself after Bud finished fixing the house up. Walls were painted a soft lavender-tinted gray that made the white furniture pop without being too dark. She put up a few cute pictures of various animals—one that made her chuckle was several climbing a ladder to grab a star, including a fox and a wolf. Rosalee had actually gifted her a mobile for her—it had a silver crescent moon with little white stars on the arms around it. She’d found a dark gray semi-sheer curtain she attached to it to create a canopy at the head of the bed. A soft lavender rug over the hardwoods was littered with a few toys and she kicked a block out of the way before she tripped on it with a sigh.

“Alright, we had a nice bath and a story and now it’s time for bed,” she said, laying Diana down among the lavender bedding. She whined a little but Adalind smiled and stroked through her hair. “You can argue with me about the time when you can say more than five words.” Diana smiled at the teasing tone and Adalind kissed her forehead and tucked her in.

Turning, Adalind sighed and began picking up the blocks and other toys left from playtime earlier that day. As she put them in the old toybox she’d found and fixed up, they began floating back out and lazily around the room. Adalind turned and walked over, seeing Diana’s eyes open and glowing while she sucked on her thumb. “No no no,” she said gently, pulling one block out of the air. “Don’t make things float, honey…” Diana whined again and Adalind frowned and stroked through her hair. “I know. While I was older than you, I wanted to use my powers a lot when I first had them…but I told Mr. Meisner and the others I made it so you couldn’t. I don’t want to do that, because what I had to do to myself for it isn’t fun. But you’re so strong they might take you away…I can’t go through that again. You gotta be careful when you use them.” She looked at her, wondering if it was silly to talk to her like a grown up. “Do you understand?”

Diana sighed but then her toys all floated to the toy box, shut the toy box, and her eyes dimmed to normal. Adalind smiled and leaned down to kiss her again. “Thank you, sweetheart…I promise, while in private you can do a little magic for fun. But we can’t rely on it and you can’t let anyone else see.” She yawned and settled into the crib and Adalind smiled and turned on the starry sky nightlight she got. “Sweet dreams.”

\-----------------------------

At the shop, everyone’s eyes widened, and they looked at each other. “I…Bud, are you sure?”

“Absolutely! I kept thinking about it running over here, but I wasn’t imagining it! Just black, and that weird feeling I get when you do it!”

“You ran here?”

“I…was a little too scared to get back to my car. My phone’s there too. When I saw Nick wasn’t home, I figured you were probably here. Let me tell you, I got my exercise for the day…you got a water or anything?”

Rosalee stood and quickly got him a bottle of water from her mini fridge so he could drink it up. Nick sat down, thinking over what he said. “Why would it have a Grimm’s eyes?”

“No clue. But I mean, it doesn’t seem bad,” Bud said, after taking a long gulp. He saw the flier on the table then and hummed, tapping it. “I heard about this. Nick, I don’t think they should get capture the beast. It could be important!”

Nick nodded slowly. “Yeah…Not only that, but they might find out a bit too much.”

“Are we joining the hunt?” Hank asked.

“Not much choice. Wu, can you find out about where that video in the woods was taken?”

“I think I can, yeah. The group who filmed it had an interview and the original video is up on that site,” he nodded.

“Good. Bud, I’ll drive you back to your car, but on the way you’re going to show me where it was.”

“O-okay, if you’re sure…” he said.

“I’ll come with you,” Hank said, standing.

Monroe stood as well. “I’ll come too. See if I can get this thing’s scent.”

“Okay,” Nick nodded. They headed out, Hank riding with Nick and Bud and Monroe following in his car to head home afterwards. Getting back to his neighborhood, he followed Bud’s directions to the alley and got out.

“I slipped here,” he said, pointing an area near some garbage cans. “The guys trying to rob me were coming up that way. And then I heard something up there,” he pointed to the top of the building. “And it jumped down here!” He pointed in front of the trash cans.

“And where did it go after?” Nick asked, looking around.

“Back up! Jumped higher than anything I’ve seen, grabbed onto the side and just pulled itself up!”

Nick looked up, finding it hard to believe as the building was three stories tall. But he walked over and pulled down the nearby fire escape ladder to head up. Getting to the top, he walked around the edge looking at the waist-high build up around the sides. —and then froze. He looked close at one area and was shocked to see deep marks like claws in the stone caps to the brick wall. He quickly grabbed his phone and took a camera before looking around. Nothing was on the roof with him. But walking over, he realized he could see his loft from here pretty easily.

_That’s a little weird…_

“Nick?” Monroe asked, climbing up to the roof with him.

“Hey. Something was up here.”

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me,” he said, sniffing. “Smells like…wet, musty yak-dog up here.” He frowned, sniffing a little more. “Something familiar too…but mostly getting a musk of some kind.”

“Think you could follow it?”

He scented the air, following it around before shaking his head. “I think this thing is jumping a lot to get around. If it’s jumping between roofs, I don’t think I can get a good track on it.”

Nick sighed. “Well…we know it’s in the woods too. Let’s go out tomorrow, see if we can find it there.”

Monroe nodded, heading back down with him. “…You know…I think I might’ve seen this thing near the shop.”

Nick looked up, surprised. “You did?”

“I think so. I remember taking out the trash a couple of weeks ago and I saw…something on the roof, looking down at me. I thought I imagined it at the time…”

Nick frowned more. “Why is this thing hanging around us…?”

“Well…if it’s something to do with Grimms, maybe it wants to get to know you.”

“Not sure how I feel about that,” he said, jumping to the ground a few feet away.

“Well, you’re a popular guy,” Hank said, having heard them in the echo of the alleyway.

Nick gave a humoring smile before sighing. “I don’t think that thing is still around here tonight though…Let’s start fresh tomorrow.”

“Do you, uh…need me for that?” Bud asked.

“Not right now, no,” Nick said. “I’ll drop you off at your car.”

“Thanks, Nick, I appreciate that,” he said honestly, probably more relieved they didn’t need him for anything else. Nick took him back to his car and let him know to contact them if he thought of anything else.

\-----------------

“Bosch! You got everything?”

The men were unloading the truck and the large man stepped down from the platform to meet with the man at the door. “Hey Mike. Everything on the list.”

“Good. Our deadline’s been moved up a bit.”

Bosch arched his brow and looked towards the door. “And how does our “guest” feel about that?”

The man laughed. “He doesn’t get a choice, does he?”

“Nah, not really,” Bosch laughed. They both jumped when they heard a loud bang and glass break. Cursing, they ran in to see a man was running the opposite way, after having broken the door somehow. Bosch growled and woged into a Blutbad, running after him.

“Don’t kill him!” Mike reminded him.

The man rounded a corner and Bosch rounded it faster, catching up to him and tackling him to the ground. He snarled, bearing his teeth, and the man under him cowered. He was tall, thin, reedy and pale, with short brown hair, but then he woged into a pale grey rat-like wesen with red eyes. “P-please! Please don’t hurt me!”

Bosch huffed and changed back. “You don’t want us to hurt you, don’t run.” He hauled him to his feet easily and dragged him back to the room with an arm around his neck as he also woged back. “How the hell did he get out?”

“Looks like he rigged some kind of explosion…Guess that’s a chemist for you.”

“Please…please let me go,” he said again.

“Now, Dr. Ahn,” Mike said sweetly. “We can’t do that. We need you your help.”

“I don’t want to help with this! It’s madness!”

“Madness? No, no, it’s progress,” he said. “We’re just helping things along. Now, you can assist us with that, or we’ll find someone else. But then we won’t need you. Or your family. Your son, he’s very young still isn’t he?”

Dr. Ahn shook softly but then slowly nodded. “Please don’t hurt them…”

“We won’t. But no more escape attempts, hm?” He nodded and Mike smiled. “Good. Now, we’ll get a new room ready for you. Bosch, stay with the Doctor till it’s ready.”

“Don’t worry. I got him,” he said, tightening his grip. The doctor winced but closed his eyes in resignation.

\-----------------

“You want to go track down “The Wild Thing”?” Renard asked, arching his brow.

“I know it sounds stupid, but we have an eyewitness that saw it,” Nick said.

“…I fail to see how it’s a police matter,” Renard said.

“It’s not. It’s a Grimm matter.”

“Bud said he saw this things eyes look like a Grimm’s eyes,” Hank explained.

Renard straightened, surprised. “…Well, that’s a bit more interesting, I admit.”

“You can make it some time off if you need, but I want to go track this thing down.”

“And what about Black Claw?”

They sighed. “Security footage yielded no leads; they were all masked. Or woged, probably, but we’re saying masked. And until we can figure out what they need this stuff for, we can’t really predict where they might hit next,” Nick said.

“So, we’re stuck waiting for them to make the next move,” he sighed as well.

“We can shift gears real quick,” Hank said, pulling out the flier. “But this thing is being hunted by someone else. If it’s something that needs to be protected or could help us, we need to move on it now.”

Renard looked at the flier and then looked put out. “H. Rider Grosvenor…”

“You know him?” Nick asked.

“Yes.” He sighed and stood. “Let me come with you. Maybe I can talk to him.”

Hank and Nick looked at one another but didn’t argue. They headed out to the woods per the map on the flier and found what looked like a command center set up, running off of high-end generators and even some solar equipment. Around it was several other campers and RVs set up. Several people had large dogs with them and eyed Renard as he walked in with his suit and tie. Nick and Hank had at least changed into woodsier clothes, knowing they may end up out there.

They heard a commotion just as they entered and saw them pushing a few homeless people away towards a van. “What’s going on there?” Nick asked

“We’re the St. John’s bridge—probably there was a homeless camp nearby. And Rider had them moved because they’d ruin one of his shots…” Sean added.

Nick frowned and then looked around a bit more. One of the homeless persons was still at the edge of the camp, watching what was going on. He slowed down, looking them over. Jeans, ill-fitting flannel shirt, hooded sweatshirt with the hood up to obscure their eyes and hair, but the strange thing was the bandana around their face. Like an old-time robber. But there was something familiar about them. When they turned their head to see him they tensed, and then turned and ran deeper into the woods as if scared.

“Nick?” Hank called. Nick hesitated but shook his head and followed. He figured it was just a homeless person that didn’t want to deal with cops since their badges were still on full display. _Or it could be someone from Black Claw…Am I just being paranoid?_

As they approached the central most trailer, they could hear raised voices inside.

“…may be the last of its kind! You cannot under any circumstances kill it!”

“I’m not going to be told what to do! This is my show, and I’ll make the call if that thing needs to be put down or not!”

“There have been no reported attacks! All of your publicity is treating it like a man-eating animal! It’s obvious you intend to kill it! And then what, stuff it and put it on your mantle?”

“No…I’ll obviously put it in my office. Maybe charge to have pictures with it.”

“You slimy, piece of—”

“Careful, son,” he warned.

Sean knocked on the door and the quieted before a woman opened it. “I-I’m sorry, we’re a bit busy—”

“He’ll make time for me,” Sean said. “Rider!”

The man in question quickly walked over and looked down from the top of his trailer steps. “…Sean?” He laughed and walked over, clapping him on the shoulder. “Sean! Good to see you!”

Sean smiled tightly. “You too. But I’m not entirely happy about the circumstances.”

“Ah, c’mon! I’ve made a good business doing this! “Rugged Rider: World Hunter”! Nice ring to it, yeah?” He smiled, stepping down.

“More like “Rugged Rider: Species Eradicator,”” a snide voice said. They looked up to see a man stepping down dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, with red-brown hair and brown eyes.

Rider glared at him. “The rhino incident was sanctioned! Everyone blew it way out of proportion—”

“That’s not your only crime against nature!” he said.

“Um, who’re you?” Hank asked.

He flushed and sighed. “My name is Clifford Pinchot. I work for the Portland Zoo, and I’m trying to convince _Mr._ Grosvenor that killing this animal would be a huge blow to wildlife conservatory!”

“This is a large, dangerous animal!” Rider said, getting hot under the collar again. “It’s getting into the city, letting it run loose isn’t an option!”

“Then capture it and bring it to the zoo like you said in your video!”

“If that is the option, yes, but not if it tries to kill me or my men!”

“I thought it hadn’t hurt anyone,” Nick said, interjecting.

“It hasn’t!” Clifford said.

“ _Yet._ ” He looked at Renard. “You understand, right?”

“I understand there’s a lot of concerns here. Mine is: Do you have a permit for this?”

Rider just laughed. “Ah, always a stickler for the rules.”

“It’s my job. I’m a police captain now.”

“Surprise, surprise. Darla!” Everyone winced at the loud yell. The woman quickly stepped down and over to him. “Where’s that permit?” His assistant quickly flipped through her files in her arms with her fingers and pulled out a piece of paper, handing it to him to read over. “Really though, Sean, I’m doing everything on the up and up.”

“Hunting down a potentially endangered species doesn’t strike me as up and up,” he said in a bored tone, still looking through.

“Thank you!” Clifford said, throwing up his hands.

“…How’s your mother doing?” Rider asked Renard.

“Fine,” he says a bit more curtly. Nick and Hank look at one another, getting an idea how he knew the man. Renard sighed and handed it back. “This looks in order, I admit. How many palms did you have to grease?”

“Now, now, no need to be so touchy! We’re going to take every safety precaution out here.”

Nick looked out at the men looking over their guns. “I’d certainly hope so…”

“You can’t stop them?” Clifford asked.

“I’m afraid it is in order…But I still question if this requires such a big reaction?”

“Ha! It certainly does.” He gestured and led them over to a table where apparent evidence of the creature had been found. Clifford followed. “While it’s a bit more “bigfoot hunter” than I like—no offense to my friends out there that think this is related—we found this.” He picked up a plaster mold showing a huge paw print. It was the size of a bears for sure, but rather it looked more like a cat or a dog’s footprint with the paw-pad shapes. “If a mountain lion was this size, even that would be amazing! And this is the front.” He grabbed up another mold that looked like a fist print. “It walks almost like a primate, with its knuckles! Which implies it may have opposable thumbs! A large primate like this is unheard of in the United States.”

“…You know a lot about animals,” Nick said.

He smiled, setting the molds back down. “Just because I hunt doesn’t mean I’m stupid.”

“It just means you’re happy to get this stuffed and mounted like a trophy,” Clifford said a little more snidely.

Rider smiled and a little of the pride they expected seeped out. “I want proof it exists. And if it’s the only one in existence, I want it for myself.”

Clifford scoffed in disgust and was ready to fight him on that, but Renard put his hand out. “Your PR team ready this time?”

“Now Sean—”

“I’m just saying. You kill the only specimen of a rare animal; you’re going to be rolling in angry letters from animal lovers. Again. How were your sales after the white Rhino fiasco?” He looked at his assistant. “I’m betting you or everyone else has tried to tell him that.”

She flinched slightly and looked away when Rider glanced at her. He sighed and gestured for her and the others to leave them. “…This thing may not have hurt anyone, but it is dangerous. It’s size, it’s speed, it’s strength—when it turns to violence it’s not going to be pretty. We can’t just let it run around where it can get to people.”

“Then help us trap it and take it to the zoo!” Clifford said.

“That would be much better PR,” Renard agreed. Nick looked at him but didn’t argue, despite thinking that was not a better option for them.

Rider laughed. “Ha…you know what? No. As I said, I want it. If I were to catch it alive, I would take it with me. Maybe start a circus or a freak show. The kind with shock collars and tiny cages!”

Clifford glared and actually got in close. “I’ll catch it myself then.”

“You?” he snorted.

“I’m more of a wildlife expert than you any day. And I’m younger and not trying to be some low budget, gritty version of Steve Irwin with half the charm and none of the integrity. I’ll catch it and it’ll go into a zoo, protected from psychopaths like you that compensate for something with their guns!” Rider blushed and looked ready to yell but he was already marching away. “And I’ll make sure they know you failed!”

Rider glared after but took a deep breath. Then he swore a blue streak in creole French before breathing again and his face rippled as he woged into a Rißfleisch. Greying but still vibrant orange fur with stripes of black and tufts of white around his jaw and ears, long and strong canines, golden eyes and sharp claws that left a small indent on the table when he gripped it. Nick had seen pictures in his books and remembered it because he’d loved tigers as a kid, and they were also his high school mascot. “I hate these young little bastards who think they can say and do what they want without making their bones in the world!”

“Rider,” Sean snapped.

“You be quiet! Your mother isn’t here, I don’t need to keep the peace with you!” he snapped, his words having an almost booming roar to them.

Sean glared and woged back. “Maybe I don’t want to keep the peace either.”

“Whoa, okay, nobody start fighting please,” Nick said.

Rider looked at them and his eyes widened before he woged back. “A Grimm?!”

“Yes, but I’m not here to hurt you or anyone else. I just want to ask you don’t kill whatever this is because it might be…important.”

Rider eyed him, then Sean and Hank, before snorting. “Yeah, sorry. I’m getting that beast. You want to stop me, get to it first. Or try and kill me, Le Bourreau.” Nick glared at the taunt, but Rider was moving past them. “Now if you’d please leave, I need to film the opening for this webisode. That’s what they call these things on the internet, ain’t that cute?” he smiled, turning back to his affable “Uncle Rider” persona. He held the door to the RV open and Sean sighed but motioned for them to follow him out.

“…That guy and your mom…?” Hank started curiously.

“Yeah. I didn’t like him as a kid, I don’t like him now. His idea of bonding was survival training—usually so he could leave me alone in the woods while he went and drank with the boys and girls at the hunting lodge. Then threatening to “lose” me if I told my mother. She figured it out on her own though. He’s lucky he can still walk honestly…”

“His luck isn’t our luck,” Nick sighed, pulling out his phone. “I’m going to call Monroe and Rosalee.”

“Why?” Hank asked.

“You heard the man. He challenged us to find this creature before he did. I say we take that challenge. And we need to get it before anyone from the zoo does too.”

“While you do that, I’ll make a few calls. My friend Andrew Dixon is running for mayor, he might enjoy a little animal lover PR by calling this guy out,” Renard said, heading out of the tent as well.

\------------------------

Susannah smiled as she sat with Diana, playing with some of her toys. She did a perfect imitation of an ambulance siren driving by to pick up an injured frog.

“I thought an ambulance was driving through the living room for a second,” Kelly said, walking in.

“Ah, sorry. I like doing sound effects.”

“…Penas Do Arco-íris?”

Susannah looked up at her then laughed. “Wow, you can still do the Grimm identifier, huh?”

“I just know a lot,” she smiled, sitting down. “That imitation talent must come in handy though.”

“I definitely have found a lot of uses for it. Disguises mainly, but it’s a great distraction too.” She held up a doll and spoke for it without moving her lips. “Especially when you learn ventriloquism and throwing your voice.” Diana giggled, reaching for the doll.

“Impressive,” Kelly smiled.

“I confess, I got a bit of the idea from _Police Academy_ ,” she smiled. “If I ever get tired of covert ops, I’ll be a fantastic stand-up comedian.”

“Good to have a backup plan,” she smiled.

“…What do you think you’ll do now?” Susannah asked carefully.

“…That I don’t know,” she sighed. “My sister trained to be a Librarian, but I didn’t…not sure I want to do that anyway. I never really had a back-up. Though I suppose…”

“You suppose?”

“…I posed as an antiques dealer once. Had a good time doing that,” she said, smiling fondly.

“Really? I mean…I didn’t imagine that.”

“It’s how I met my husband,” she smiled. It turned a little sad. “He was a professor of history at Vassar College. I was trying to get information on an old scroll I found, and he ended up helping me.”

“…You go for the nerdy type?” she asked, even more surprised.

“You ever watch Indiana Jones?” she smiled. “Think that, but just a little less Hollywood.”

“Oh, okay, I got it now,” she nodded. “So, he was cool with the Grimm thing?”

“He…adapted well,” she smiled. “Reed was surprisingly easy going, while also being quick on his feet. …The fact it’s my fault he’s gone…”

“…I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…”

“No, it’s okay,” she sighed. “I…to be honest, I need to talk with Nick more about him. But it’s hard sometimes. He has a version of his father and me in his head from when he was a kid and…there’s a lot of hard truths I never told him. But I think he should know.” She turned her head to Diana and sighed. “Not going to be much easier for this little one…Has Renard come?”

“Not yet,” Adalind sighed, walking in with some tea for all of them. “I’ve…been a little indirect with him about getting her back.”

“You don’t trust him?” Susannah asked, taking a mug.

“I don’t know if I ever can trust him completely again,” she sighed. “And that’s my issue, but it’s…hard to face him again.”

“Well, he’s going to find out eventually Diana’s here. Nick or someone is going to let it slip if they haven’t already,” Kelly pointed out.

“I know!” She sighed and took her own sip. “…I guess I should get it over with. I’ll call him tonight and figure things out…”

“That’d be good,” Susannah nodded. “But hey, I’m happy playing babysitter if the grown-ups need to talk.” She smiled at Diana who smiled back.

“You’re older than I am…” Adalind muttered. Susannah blew a raspberry, making Diana laugh again.

\---------------------------------

“You want to go hunt this thing?” Monroe asked, a bit shocked. They were at the shop, discussing what they’d found out meeting with Grosvenor.

“Not hunt, exactly. More like capture,” Nick said.

“Yeah, well, you have to hunt it to do that,” he said blandly. “I know you said you want to investigate the woods, but I didn’t think that was going to involve actually like trying to take it down!”

“This Grosvenor guy is going to kill it if we don’t do something,” Nick sighed.

Monroe and Rosalee looked at one another, neither wanting that, but still hesitant. “What are we going to do with it when we catch it? We’re not keeping it here.”

“I…can take it. The downstairs part of the loft is pretty big,” Nick said.

“It’s a wild animal!”

“It saved Bud though,” Hank pointed out. “So, it understood he needed help, then ran away rather than attack or chase anything.”

“He has a point,” Rosalee said, nodding. “I mean, this might be a wesen that’s in need of help.”

“Grosvenor is Wesen too,” Nick said. “A…Rißfleisch, I think it’s called.”

“Nick says it’s a tiger?” Hank said.

“Oh God, of course he is,” Monroe sighed. “Those guys are notorious cutthroat businessmen.”

“Literally, sometimes,” Rosalee sighed. “They don’t like competition…My father knew one years ago that ran a landscaping business. One of his employees tried to branch off and start his own business, and they found him dead in a patch of elephant ears with his neck broken and his guts everywhere,” she grimaced.

“If he’s trying to get the Wild Thing, he’s going to do whatever he has to do,” Monroe nodded

“Then we have to save it,” Rosalee said.

“Yeah, who knows what he’ll do to it,” Hank agreed.

Monroe blew out a breath but nodded. “Alright…You all make good points. I’m in. When do we want to do it though?”

“I need to get a tranquilizer and a gun is the thing…Juliette always got the tranq doses for us before.”

They all looked at one another, a little uncomfortable. “…I guess you could ask Hadrian’s Wall?”

Nick frowned. “I’d rather not…God, I wish I had the trailer!” He groaned.

“We’ll figure something out,” Hank said, patting his shoulder. “I don’t think Grosvenor is going to find it in one night, so let’s ask around. Maybe Fish and Wildlife will loan us one…”

Nick sighed and nodded.

\-------------------------------

Clifford was moving through the forest late that night. He knew that whatever this was, it was likely nocturnal giving that’s when all the footage was taken. So, he needed to be out there in the dark. He’d gotten some night vision goggles from the zoo and a tranq rifle. A lot of his coworkers thought the was crazy and they higher ups of course didn’t condone this, so it was all on the sly. But he was determined to keep whatever this creature was alive and bring it back. Both because it deserved not to just be killed, and because his curiosity was through the roof. Maybe if he discovered a new species, he could name it!

As he was thinking on that he heard something walking up ahead. He readied the rifle and pointed it but relaxed with disappointment when he saw it was a buck. Then he tensed again when he saw something moving in the shadows around it. It was much too big to be another deer, but it moved quietly around where the deer was. _Is it hunting? This is a predator then! But why hasn’t it attacked a human?_

He readied the gun again and aimed where the creature was, seeing the shine of its eyes in the light. “Holy crap…” he gasped, seeing it’s face through night scope. “What are you…?”

There was a snap and the buck’s head shot up before it bounded away, and the creature was gone in the moment as well, rushing back the other way. Clifford cursed till he realized the snap came from behind him. Turning, he only had a moment to scream before teeth and claws filled his vision.

Rider sank his teeth into Clifford’s throat hard enough his larynx cracked under his jaw’s strength. If that didn’t kill him, the two-inch fangs puncturing his carotid did in a matter of seconds. He stood, wiping the blood from his mouth. Then he proceeded to slash at the man’s body, trying to bloody him up more. Woging back, he sighed and cracked his neck. “You shouldn’t have insulted me, boy. But I do thank you for your sacrifice.”

\--------------------------

Adalind paced a bit before sighing and looking at the phone again. She knew she had to do this. It just still stung a bit. But Renard deserved to know Diana was with her and staying. _And that if he does anything to jeopardize that I’ll skin him alive, powers or no powers…_

Dialing the number, she took a deep breath to prepare herself.

“Adalind?”

“Yeah…hey, Sean.”

“Hey…How are you?”

“I’m…great, actually.”

“Great?”

“Yeah…um…so, I’ve been meaning to call for a while. I was just…”

“Just?”

“…Chicken,” she sighed.

“…Okay, why?”

“Well…I have Diana.”

There was a long pause before he asked urgently. “You do?”

“I do,” she smiled. “It’s been a couple of weeks…” _Months_.

“I…how? I thought Meisner…”

“Meisner and another friend he works with, Susannah, fought to let me have custody of her. They keep an eye on us though, just to be sure no one tries anything.”

“I…God, I’m so glad,” Renard sighed. “For you and knowing she’s safe…Where are you?”

“I actually moved into Sloane’s house.”

“Sloane’s?” he asked, surprised.

“It was Kelly’s idea. She’s also staying here, as added protection and because she and Diana have surprisingly great relationship…Well, not that surprising I guess, all things considered.”

“…I am sorry about that.”

“…I know,” she sighed. “I don’t want to be angry with you anymore though. Because I know you care about her too and…I don’t want to deny her getting to know you.”

“I appreciate that…can I come visit?”

“Yeah, of course. Um, it’s a bit late tonight though.”

“Tomorrow then?”

“Yeah…I think we’ll all be ready for that then,” she nodded, even though he couldn’t see her.

“Alright. I’ll bring dinner, if that sounds good.”

“Sounds great. I’m still learning how to cook properly…”

He chuckled. “Considering you burned a waffle that time…”

“You will not let me forget that, will you?”

“It was a toaster waffle, so no.”

She laughed a little as well and couldn’t deny, it was nice to laugh with him again. “We’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Tomorrow.” They hanged up and Adalind sighed, glad to get that over with. Now she just had to worry about him coming over.

\-------------------------

Nick had finished his early morning workout and showered before grabbing breakfast. He was just tucking in when his phone rang. “Burkhardt.”

“It’s Renard,” Sean said, sounding tense. “I need you to get to Forest Park, immediately.”

“What’s happened?” Nick asked, stopping from taking another bite.

“I’m sure you’ll see it on the news if you turn. Channel 3.”

Nick frowned and turned on the TV. He turned it to 3 and the reporter was finishing one story when a familiar face popped up on screen in a box next to the reporter’s head.

“The body of Clifford Pinchot was discovered early this morning.” Nick coughed and quickly swallowed and drank down some of his milk as the story continued. “Mr. Pinchot was one of Oregon Zoo’s large Mammal specialists. He was found in the woods of Forest Park, apparently attacked by an animal, by the crew of visiting wildlife expert Henry Rider Grosvenor.”

It cut to a video of Rider speaking to a reporter, looking contrite but also determined. “It’s a damn shame…I was talking to Mr. Pinchot the other day, debating your local “Wild Thing” that I came to find. He believed he could catch it to take in himself. I warned him it was too dangerous, but he did not listen! Now, I found tracks near his body. I think this Wild Thing didn’t take kindly to Mr. Pinchot trying to catch it and it attacked him. This is what I’d been saying—anything this large and unknown is too dangerous to let roam around! Now it’s killed someone. It needs to be brought down one way or another, and I will do it. To make sure no one else ends up like Mr. Pinchot.”

The footage cut back to the reporter. “While this story is ongoing, the coroner has confirmed that Mr. Pinchot died from an obvious attack by a large animal. We are advising that any visits to Forest Park or the surrounding area be postponed till further notice.”

“So, you saw it?” Renard asked.

“Yeah…The Wild Thing killed him?”

“I doubt it,” Renard huffed.

“What do you mean?”

“Grosvenor likely killed him.”

Nick was surprised a moment before his mind caught up. “A Rißfleisch doesn’t like competition…”

“No, he does not. I think that’s part of why he didn’t like me as a kid—I was competition for my mother’s attention.”

“That’s sick…”

“He’s a sick man. But him killing Pinchot gives him several advantages. One, Pinchot’s gone. Two, it discourages anyone else from trying to catch his quarry. And three, he can blame the death on the Wild Thing.”

“Making more people agree it needs to be killed,” Nick sighed.

“Exactly. This is the kind of thing he would pull for sure. I pulled some strings and got you and Hank as the detectives—you need to get down their fast.”

“On it, let me get dressed!”

He hanged up, wolfed down his breakfast and finished getting ready, rushing out the door. When he got to the park, Hank was waiting at the edge of the woods with Wu.

“Hey. Renard fill you in?” Hank asked.

“Yeah, and I saw the news…”

“The news was the first call Mr. Grosvenor made,” Wu said dryly. “Then the police.”

“How considerate,” Nick said.

“We did manage to keep the area contained luckily.” He led them deeper into the woods. “According to Mr. Grosvenor, he was taking a hike to find likely areas the “Wild Thing” might be living when he found Mr. Pinchot’s body. He surveyed the area, then rushed back to camp to make the call.”

“Nothing in the area?” Hank asked.

“Nothing he mentioned. But if he saw a certain creature, would he let us know?” Wu said.

“My money’s on no,” Nick sighed. It was a bit of a hike to get them to where the attack happened. Crime techs were going over the scene and taking picture of the mangled body on the ground. Nick grimaced at the messy wounds and sighed. “This is definitely an animal attack…”

“But what kind?” Hank agreed quietly.

“I’d think it was obvious from the tracks.” They looked up to see Rider on the edge of the scene.

“Mr. Grosvenor, should you be here?” Hank asked.

“I’m on the other side of the tape, boys,” he smiled. “Plus, I found the poor man. As I was saying, I’d think the tracks make it obvious what did this.” He pointed and Nick could see several tracks on the ground much like those Rider showed him at his camp. He frowned and looked more closely. “Like I said. This thing is dangerous. It needs to be taken down.”

“…Well…I think you should have an easy time of it,” Nick said, standing and glaring at him as he walked over and spoke more quietly. “Considering it has two left feet.”

Rider’s smile faded. “…You can tell that, hm? Here I thought you were just a city cop.”

“I’m a very good city _detective_. Just like I can say I’m pretty certain that paw print might match the one you have a mold of at your camp.”

“Well, if you’re so certain, are you going to accuse me? Of what, ripping that man’s throat out with…my teeth?” He smiled, showing off his human teeth. Nick glared again and Rider laughed. “That will be interesting, won’t it? But then you ain’t got proof it is that paw print. Now if you’ll excuse me, I gotta get ready to track down that big monster. If you want to take the chance it isn’t a cold-blooded killer, go ahead, Le Bourreau!”

“…Did he just call Nick a “burro”?” Wu asked quietly.

“I think it’s the French word for Grimm,” Hank said back.

Rider laughed, having heard them. “Oui, though perhaps a “burro” is not far off. I dare you to make an ass of yourself, my friend,” he said, smiling maliciously.

Nick looked ready to do just that, but Hank put a hand on his shoulder. “Too many reporters around, man. He wants you to get in trouble and hung up for assault so you can’t stop him…”

“Ah, was I that obvious,” He laughed. “Not that you can stop me. But it would make my life easier.” He turned and heading back to camp and Nick let out a breath.

“I really hate that guy…”

“None of us want to give him a prize either. But we need to focus. Let’s go through the scene and maybe we can figure out more.”

Nick huffed but nodded, going to look things over again. They found a tranquilizer rifle nearby that Pinchot must’ve intended to use on the creature. Whatever got him stuck from behind they were fairly sure. Took out his neck, then shredded his abdomen. But didn’t eat any bit of him it looked like.

As he was looking the scene over, he decided to train his ears around and see what he could hear. Nothing stood out at first, but further out, he could hear quiet footsteps. Cautious. Looking that way, he could barely make out a figure in the trees. It was that same person from yesterday, the one in the old ratty clothes and bandanna around their face.

“Hey…Hey you!” Nick called, moving towards them. They quickly turned and bolted, and Nick rushed after them, Hank and Wu calling after him. They were fast whoever they were, Nick having to work to catch up. But when He rounded one tree, they were gone. “What the hell?” he muttered, looking around.

“Nick? What’s going on?” Hank called, catching up to him.

“I saw this person…I saw him yesterday too. There’s something weird about him.”

“Weird?”

“He was wearing a mask…” he gestured over his face. “A bandana. I couldn’t see his eyes…”

“Okay, that is kind of a weird…” Hank nodded.

“I thought they were one of the homeless people they pushed out yesterday, but he keeps going deeper in the woods. He ran when he saw me yesterday too.”

“You think he knows you are?”

“Maybe…But as a cop or a Grimm?”

“Good question…If you see him again, point him out and we’ll help get him.”

Nick nodded, heading back with him. He didn’t see the figure up in the tree watching them. When they were far enough away they jumped down and kept rushing farther away, breathing fast.

\-----------------------

Adalind answered the door when she heard the knocking and opened it to see Renard standing, dressed down, with a big stuffed purple penguin in his arms. He was also, surprisingly, wearing flannel, jeans and boots. “…Sean?”

“Hey…thanks for agreeing to meeting earlier. I still brought dinner.” He held up a bag. “From Rigoletto’s.”

“Good choice…and the penguin?” she said, smiling as she stood aside to let him in.

“For Diana. Why, did you want it?”

Adalind snorted a bit and took the food. “No, but it’s bigger than her I think…”

“Oh…is that bad?” he said, looking at it worriedly now.

“No, it’s fine. Why a penguin though?” she asked, setting the food on the kitchen counter.

“I thought it was cute…It was that or a tiger, but I’m not a big fan of Tigers lately…”

“Yeah, I heard Grosvenor was in town,” she said sympathetically.

“And up to his old tricks. I’m going with Nick and the others tonight to try and help.”

“Ah, that explains my next question about the clothes,” she smiled. He smiled back and then looked up when he heard footsteps down the hall. Kelly walked in, holding Diana who rubbed her eyes.

“I heard you come in, so I got her up from her nap. It was about time anyway.”

“Thanks, Kelly,” Adalind said.

Renard nodded, looking at Diana in a bit of awe. She looked back at him, blinking at him in confusion. “Hey…Diana…” he smiled and walked over. “I know you probably don’t remember me, but…I’m your father.”

She stared a bit and then surprised him by reaching for him. Kelly smiled and moved to help hand her over after Renard hastily put the penguin on the couch. She looked at him before smiling a little. “Da!”

“I…yes,” he said, smiling.

“She’s special in more than just her powers,” Kelly said. “Smart and a good memory…It’s almost a little scary if she wasn’t so cute.”

Renard smiled and sat with her on the couch. “I’m glad though. To be remembered by her.” He smiled and pulled the penguin over. “I brought this for you. What do you think?”

She squealed and clapped, reaching for it from where he supported her on his lap, and he smiled and brought it closer. Adalind smiled as she plated the food and watched them. “He’s a hit I think.”

“You mean the penguin or Sean?” Kelly asked, coming to get some tea to drink.

“Both…I’m glad I finally invited him over. You think Diana’s going to be a daddy’s girl though?”

“Eh, you both just need to do your best and not spoil her too much.”

“Yeah…I know…” she sighed a bit, thinking on the suppressant she had hidden in the cabinet above the fridge. She wasn’t sure how long it was good for and knew she needed to see about getting Diana to take it. But she still hesitated. _I used to be a lot more assertive…but I don’t want her to hate me…_ She looked at Sean and smiled at how he was playing with her. _When did he get to be a good dad too? Jeeze…Nothing is going how I thought it would a year ago. But I guess it’s not going badly…_

\------------------------

When night came, Nick, Hank and Wu returned to the woods with Monroe and Rosalee. “So, you’re sure this thing didn’t kill a guy?”

“Pretty sure,” Nick said.

“Pretty sure isn’t completely sure…”

“Renard is sure.”

“Because he doesn’t like Grosvenor?”

“Because I know his MO.” They all jumped and looked up in surprise as Renard walked up. He was dressed in jeans, boots, a long sleeve flannel and a blue vest. “When I was younger, Rider promoted his business through wildly exaggerated magazine articles. When a fellow adventurer called him out, that man was found at the bottom of a cliff with claw marks all over him. Rider gave his condolences…then released a line of “bear mace”, saying it could’ve helped in an unfortunate attack.”

“Wow,” Rosalee said, galled by the amount of arrogance that took.

“I know. He’s an underhanded man to say the least.”

“I’m more shocked by what your wearing, sir. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you not in a suit…” Wu said.

Renard rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to dirty one of my good suits trekking through the woods when I know I can change.”

“…And the glitter?”

He blushed and looked down at the shirt, brushing it off. “…I visited my daughter. She had this doll with a lot of glitter on it. At least it’s small and kid friendly I’m told.”

“Oh! You got to visit Diana? That’s great!” Rosalee smiled.

“Yes…am I the only one that didn’t know she was there?” he asked, a little testy.

Nick looked a bit chagrinned. “Adalind didn’t want us telling you till she was ready…”

He sighed but nodded. “I figured…But back to the matter at hand. I came to help because I know Grosvenor better than you all. He uses a lot of traps and other underhanded techniques. Maybe I can help keep an eye out for them.”

Nick nodded slowly. “Okay…thank you.”

He nodded back and they started through the woods to the crime scene. It’d been cleared already—after all, it was the woods. Keeping things as they were when the murder happened was probably not going to happen. Monroe began scenting the air. “I got blood for sure…two scents under that. One kind of earthy, came from that direction,” he pointed back from where they came. “The other…I’ve scented big cat wesen before, smells a bit like that. Came from that way, went back that way too I’m guessing,” he pointed towards another direction.

“Towards Grosvenor’s camp,” Nick nodded.

“Looks like the Captain called it…” Hank nodded.

Monroe kept scenting, moving further towards a small clearing. “Deer…racoon…few other animals…Got it! That scent I found on the roof is around here,” he said, getting to the other side of the small clearing from where Pinchot’s body was found.

Nick thought back to the body and aimed with his hand. “If Pinchot was going to shoot something from where he was, it would’ve probably been in that direction I think…”

“Can you follow the smell?” Wu asked.

Monroe scoffed. “Well yeah, but are you sure we should?”

“I got this,” Renard said, bringing out a dart rifle. “I have a contact at a wildlife rehab, and they let me borrow it. It’s the best I could do as far as a tranq gun. Air powered, so we need to be in about 300 ft…”

“That’s still a bit too close for my comfort…but alright.” Monroe began following the scent. Further into the woods. At one point though, Renard quickly got to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Wait.”

“What? Did you see something?” he asked, tensing.

“Yes…not an animal though.” He grabbed a branch off the ground and walked a few paces ahead, bringing it down. An iron spring-jaw trap clamped shut, splintering the bark almost all the way through. “I knew I saw one of his little toys…”

“Oh, that is barbaric,” Rosalee said, glaring. “That can break bones and cause bleeding! They’re illegal!”

“In Washington, yes. But not here,” Renard sighed.

“Ugh, that’s awful…Now I want to save this beast from him. And clear its name if we can.”

“Easier said than done,” Nick sighed.

They kept moving, Renard keeping an eye out for mother traps. Monroe kept following the scent and paused. “It goes a couple different directions here…Like it has a route it takes to some place…” Breathing deep, he nodded slowly and then turned one direction. “I think it’s freshest going this way.” It was just a little further ahead when they came out of the woods, coming to the edge of the Willamette River with the lights of the city glittering on the other side. Just ahead was the Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge to the side as well, giving a way to cross into the city. “Oh…well, I guess it went to town…”

“Let’s hope it hadn’t gone to town in town though…And no trains are coming,” Wu said.

Monroe kept sniffing and sure enough the scent led to the bridge and across.

“Not to be a whiner, but feet are starting to hurt…” Wu sighed.

“Same…” Hank sighed. “Glad we wore our hiking shoes…”

“Getting back to the cars is going to be a pain though,” Monroe sighed. All of them grimaced but kept going. Once they hit the city, Monroe frowned and kept sniffing. “It gets faint here…or it could just be all the city smells getting in the way.”

“We can’t exactly search the whole city on foot…” Rosalee sighed.

“…Let me see what I can hear,” Nick sighed. He closed his eyes and Renard quirked a brow, but the others just nodded to let him know it was on the level. Nick concentrated, trying to see if anything stood out to him. He frowned when he heard what sounded like baying dogs not far in the distance—then a gunshot. “Wh…this way!” Nick ran, the others following. Down a couple streets nearby they found Rider’s men with dogs off their leashes rushing around and with guns drawn.

“What the hell are they doing?! This is the city!” Renard hissed, moving to confront them. Hank put a handout to stop him.

“Careful, sir…they don’t look like they’re thinking anything through right now.”

Nick watched the dogs—circling near the base of a building. The men were trying to pull them away. “What the hell is wrong with them?”

“I don’t know! The thing was on the ground a second ago, but they keep acting like this!” another said.

Nick frowned and looked up at the building they were interested in. Briefly from their angle across the street, he saw a large shadow above. “…There’s something up top of that building…”

“Nick, I know what you’re thinking—” Monroe started.

“Wait here,” he said, quickly and quietly making his way to the door.

“Dammit!” he hissed.

Nick got the door and managed to break the lock and get inside. He quickly headed up the stairs, managing six flights without breaking a sweat and getting to the roof door. It was also locked, which surprised him a little, but he managed to get that open as well and slowly open it up. He could hear pacing steps, like a large four-legged animal moving over the concrete roof. Swallowing, Nick unclipped his gun just in case and took a deep breath before pushing the door open.

The first thing he thought when he saw it was _Oh shit, that is big!_ It was an animal unlike anything he’d seen before, in a zoo or on TV. Long black fur, but with scaly spiked ridges down it’s sloping back. Powerful shoulders tapered into a svelte body and then to equally powerful hind legs that were similar to a big cat’s, while its forearms reminded him of a gorilla. Like Rider said, it walked with its knuckles. Around its neck and down part of its back were V-shaped white strips, and large pointed ears swiveled around as it listened to the commotion below. It seemed frustrated, huffing and pacing near the far end of the building.

Nick tried to be quiet as he eased past the door, but he didn’t see a stack of old pipes next to the door that fell over with a loud clatter.

The creature turned around and Nick sucked in a breath. It’s face was…it was hard to describe. Cat or dog? He wasn’t sure which it resembled more with its long muzzle ending in a V-like snout. But the colors were the most striking thing. A bright vibrant red went from nose up to its brow, fading into a deep dark blue, then framed in white hair. After the colors though he belatedly noticed the very large teeth jutting out from the underbite—at least six large fangs jutting out from the curled snarling lips.

But when it saw him, the snarl abruptly smoothed out into what he could only describe as a look of shock. And maybe fear?

Meanwhile, on the ground, Grosvenor was marching forward from where his truck parked. The others quickly ducked back, trying to make sure they weren’t seen. “Who is the idiot that fired a gun?! I heard it as we pulled into the city!”

“It was an accident, sir,” a man said quickly. “One of the men saw it. He fired on reflex.”

“Did he hit it?”

“No, it got away.”

“Well…that’s lucky for him. Because if he’d killed it before me, I’d have him stuffed and mounted in my office instead.”

It wasn’t an idle threat and the man swallowed. “W-we’re working to track it down again. The dogs seem very keen in the surrounding area here…”

Grosvenor sighed, looking around. “…The footage we saw showed it jumping from a rooftop to another, yes?”

“Yessir, but these are several stories tall and it was on the ground…”

“As if that matters,” he sneered. “Find it! Start searching the buildings if you have to, before someone else finds it! This is my hunt. Be it in the forest or the city, I’ll kill that thing myself!”

“We gotta warn Nick,” Monroe whispered.

Hank nodded. “You and I will go. You guys stay here, keep out of sight.”

“Be careful,” Rosalee hissed.

Monroe nodded. Hank grabbed trashcan lid from nearby and peeked out. Making sure they wouldn’t see him, he through the lid as hard as he could further up the street. The dogs all barked and bayed and they men quickly went to investigate. Hank and Monroe quickly rushed across to the building Nick went into.

“Shouldn’t we call for back up?” Wu suggested.

“Not if the creature’s here, that could get dicey…” Renard sighed.

Grosvenor paused in following the others and turned back. After a moment he checked the rifle on his shoulder. “I’ll get to some higher ground, see what I can find there. Keep searching here.”

“Sir,” He nodded.

Rosalee and the others held their breath as he headed up the street towards the building Nick went up. But instead he went just past it, to another that was slightly taller right next to it. Which meant he’d be able to see Nick and the others from the roof.

“Oh no…We have to stop him!” Rosalee said, moving to follow the man.

“Rosalee, wait!” Wu hissed. He and Renard shared a look before following her.

And up on the roof of the first building, Nick was easing towards the beast slowly. “Hey…uh, hi…Can you…understand me?” he said. The creature whined slightly, ears flattening and backing away slightly. “Hey…hey, I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, trying to gentle his tone and take a few more steps forward. “I’m here to help. You want to help people, right? You help a friend of mine.” The Wild Thing eased slightly, watching him carefully. “There’s some others who want to hurt you…if you come with me, I can hide you for a while. Figure something out.”

Nick tensed when he heard running footsteps behind him but looked to see Monroe and Hank coming up the stairs. “Nick, we saw Grosvenor—OH MY GOD!!” Monroe swore, nearly knocking Hank over as he backpedaled.

Hank managed to grab the door frame to stay up but was gaping at the creature as well. “It’s real…”

“Guys,” Nick hissed, a little annoyed at their interruption. The creature whined again, looking at the side of the building as if contemplating jumping. There was only a much shorter building on that side though, and a taller to the other. “Look, we’re not here to hurt you,” he tried again. “We just want to know what…who you are. Are you wesen?”

The creature looked at him again and hesitated before making a low, rumbling whine. It tried again, and Nick could swear it was trying to speak. But he couldn’t understand it.

“What is it…?” Hank asked.

“Hell if I know…” Monroe said. “I’ve…never heard of anything like this. I mean, folkloric animals exist to some extent but…I don’t even know what this could be…”

“It’s not trying to attack us. That’s the important thing,” Nick said. He turned back to it and edged closer. “Please…we just want to help. I want to understand you…”

None of them knew that Grosvenor was looking down on them at that moment, his scope to his eye, aiming at the creature. “Oh…thank you for finding it, mon amis. But I’m afraid it’s time to say goodbye.”

“Goodbye!” He yelped when something grabbed the back of his hair and pulled hard. With a snarl he flung his arm back, striking Rosalee and sending her stumbling away. “ _Putain!_ What do you think you’re doing?!”

“We’re not thinking a whole lot right now, let’s be honest,” Wu said, raising his gun. “Put down your weapon. You’re not firing off any more shots in the city, Mighty Hunter.”

Grosvenor sneered. “And you think you two will stop me?”

“We’ll sure as hell try!” Rosalee said. She woged then and bared her teeth.

“Oh, a pretty little fox! Here I thought the only _Renard_ I knew was little Sean.”

“Oh, I’m not a fox.” Grosvenor jumped and turned only to be decked across the face by a woged Sean. “I always did hate you calling me that though.”

“Still a bastard though, I see,” Grosvenor said, rubbing his jaw. Renard glared and moved for him again, but he woged and clawed him across the chest. He’d moved back in time so that the scratches were light, and he only lost a button, but had to move again when he lifted the rifle to try and bash him.

“I said put the weapon down!” Wu yelled. He then cursed when Grosvenor pulled a large knife from his belt and threw it, having to duck out of the way. Rosalee yelled and rushed him, managing to get her arms around his neck and sink her teeth into his shoulder. Grosvenor roared, moving back to strike her against the raised stone edge of the roof to make her let go. She did with a gasp as it dug into her ribs. Then he grabbed her, turned, and threw her over his shoulder. She skidded over the side of the ledge.

The loud scream made everyone in the area look up to see Rosalee hanging from the side of the building across the street from the roof side, almost seven stories up. She’d caught herself on the other ledge below, but it was thinner, and she was having trouble pulling herself up.

“ROSALEE!!” Monroe screamed.

“Help!!”

Wu and Renard rushed over, trying to extend their hands down to her. “Grab on!!”

“I can’t!” she said. Rider had moved back, trying to keep from being seen by the others.

Monroe was looking around, trying to find a way across. “Rosalee, we’re coming!”

“We can’t get there in time!” Hank said.

“I’m slipping!” Rosalee screamed, trying to hold on.

They were all panicking when a huge shape bounded past them, to the edge of the roof they were on, and then springing off it. Rosalee screamed as her hands slipped and she began falling, only for it to be cut off as the Wild Thing grabbed her mid fall in one arm, the other sinking the claws of its right forearm into the brick. The claws were so strong they left deep rivets in the stone but eventually it managed to stop them moth as it tensed its legs against the wall. Rosalee gasped but grabbed on instinctively, shaking at the adrenaline pumping through her.

“That…it saved her,” Monroe said, breathing out in relief and shock.

“It jumped over thirty feet across!” Wu said, gaping.

They all gasped as Rider came to the edge then and aimed his rifle down. “Good evening, my ugly friend!”

Nick didn’t think as he grabbed his own gun and shot. He didn’t hit Rider because the distance was too far to be accurate, but it made him cruse as it cracked the stone ledge next to him. Renard then struck him across the face, sending him reeling but still standing and tussling with him. The beast meanwhile released its grip from the building with Rosalee in its arms. She screamed again as they fell, the beast controlling the fall with a lighter scrape of claws down the side. By the time they got to the bottom, Rosalee had fainted from the shock. The beast made a concerned sound as it tried to shift her around gently.

“Get that thing before it kills her!” Rider yelled down, ducking away from Wu trying to pin him to the ledge with Renard. Several of his men positioned nearby stormed the alley with guns, and another unleashed several dogs that snarled and ran for the beast and Rosalee.

“No, she’ll get caught up in that!” Nick yelled.

The beast turned and let out a loud roar that made the hair on the back of their necks stand on end, its eyes turning black. The dogs whimpered; their tails tucked in as they turned to run away. Before the men could reached the beast picked Rosalee up over one shoulder and took off in a fast but awkward loping run while supporting her.

“No!” Monroe yelled, rushing for the stairs, the others right behind him. They could hear gun shots from inside the building and it made them all rush faster, worried about Rosalee being hit. By the time they got to the street level though, the beast was gone and the men chasing, and firing had stopped, some returning.

“Where is it?!” Rider shouted, coming out from the building he was in at the same time. Wu and Renard were following.

“It got away, sir…”

“You!” Monroe shouted, rushing to him. “You were shooting at my wife, you bastard!”

“…You married that thing?”

Monroe woged and grabbed him by his jacket. “My wife is the one who fell trying to stop you and you did nothing!” he snarled.

Rider woged back, roaring back. “The little fuchsbau bitch got in my way!” Monroe snarled louder, baring his fangs.

Nick barely managed to run over and push them apart. “Monroe, stop!” He looked at Rider. “Where did it go?”

He huffed, whiskers twitching before changing back. “Hell if I know! We need to track it again! Get the dogs!”

“Uh…The dogs aren’t any good, boss,” one of his men said.

“What do you mean?!”

“It scared them into hiding. They won’t come out of the trucks.”

“Useless…Which one of you can track then?!” They all looked a bit hesitant, also spooked as they eyed the claw marks in the brick. Monroe quickly moved away, rushing to where the beast ran off. “Hey! That Blutbad—dammit, get me a tracker with some balls!” Nick rushed after him, with the others close behind.

“Monroe, wait!”

“No! That thing has Rosalee!”

“It’s not going to hurt her!”

“You don’t know that! If it does hurt her though, I’m sorry, but I’m tearing it apart!”

“Not before I do!” Grosvenor yelled.

Renard grabbed him by the shoulder before he could follow. “No. I’m afraid you and your “production” are in a lot of trouble. That agreement you showed me was for hunting in the woods. Not the city.” Grosvenor glared at him and Wu who was ordering the others to stand down while calling for back up as Monroe and the others kept running back towards the bridge.

\------------------

Adalind jerked awake, breathing hard. Getting out of bed, she quickly rushed down the hall to Diana’s bedroom. Opening it slowly, she breathed out when it was fine. No fire, no men in black. Walking over, Diana was fast asleep in her crib. Adalind gently reached down and stroked her cheek, smiling at the little huff she gave. Kissing her head, Adalind tucked her back in and headed to the door.

“Adalind?”

She looked up, seeing Kelly at the door to her own bedroom. “Yeah, it’s me,” she sighed. “Did I wake you?”

“It’s alright…Are you okay?”

“Just…had a bad dream. Wanted to check on Diana…”

“…That’s normal,” she sighed. “I had nightmares after my husband was killed. Nightmares about him, and about Nick.”

“…Does it get better?” she asked quietly.

“It does. But it takes time,” she sighed.

She sighed, rubbing over his face. “I keep dreaming about losing her again…I know Hadrian’s Wall is probably looking for a reason.”

“Meisner and Susannah believe in you. But you should probably think about giving her that suppressant if you don’t want to risk it.”

Adalind looked up in surprise. “I…you knew?”

“I’m half blind, Adalind, but I’ve been with Diana long enough she’s comfortable with me…She likes to make her dolls dance. I can tell that even with a bad eye.”

Adalind sighed. “I know…I know I need to…the fact they haven’t found out I didn’t for a couple of months is just luck on my part…But I don’t want her to hate me…”

Kelly sighed and walked over, patting her shoulder. “I worried Nick might hate me when I came back…and I worried he might hate me when he was a child. I think a lot of parents feel that way when they have to do something they know is best for the child that won’t make them happy. Medicine. Discipline. Having to leave…It’s not easy. My father definitely took discipline a little too far sometimes. Things I wouldn’t do to Nick. But there’s a balance. And sometimes, you have to do what feels like being the bad guy to keep them safe.”

Adalind sighed but nodded. “Right…I’ll…I’ll try to do it soon. I need to figure out how she’ll drink it without realizing. It’s not a taste a kid will want, I know that…” She looked at the clock. “Renard told me about the hunt tonight…”

“Nick told me too,” she sighed. “I wanted to join, but…I think I need to train on how to do this with low vision. Which isn’t easy. I’ve never known a blind Grimm…”

“Well…you’re only half blind?”

Kelly snorted. “More like 3/4ths right now…but I’ll figure it out. For now, go to sleep. Nothing’s going to happen to Diana with us both here.”

Adalind smiled and nodded, heading back to the master.

\------------------

It took less than five minutes for the first cop car to arrive at the scene, but within thirty it was a good 10 including animal control. The dogs were rounded up, all of them surprisingly docile.

“Get off me!” one of the men yelled. The others were being cooperative, but this one was suddenly being very obstinate. “None of y’all have any right to stop us! We’re trying to save your asses from a wild animal!”

“Sir, stay down!” one of the officers said. He tried to sit him back down, but the man just socked him in the jaw. The other officers were on him in a moment, while a couple of other hunters tried to surge up to start a brawl. The brawl lasted a few minutes, but the officers managed to overwhelm them with numbers and force them down and handcuff them. Renard and Wu had been in the thick of it and came away a little scuffed up but alright.

Renard was coordinating them being processed and questioned regarding the gunshots. But as he was looking over the men, he realized something was very wrong. He grabbed an officer passing by. “Where is Grosvenor?”

“He’s over…there…uh…” The officer paled, looking around. “He was right there, sir, I swear!”

Renard cursed. “The tussle was a distraction so he could get away! I should’ve known. Wu!”

Wu looked up from finger printing one man and rushed over. “Sir?”

He dropped his voice as he leaned in. “Grosvenor got away. He’s likely heading back to the woods, but I don’t think we want others seeing Nick and Hank there already…”

Wu grimaced. “Yeah, that’s no good…Think they can handle him?”

“I think so…but let’s get this done and get back to them as fast as we can.”

\-----------------

Rosalee groaned softly as she came back to her senses. She tried to remember what happened and sat up with a gasp when she remembered the fall, the beast, and Grosvenor aiming a gun at them. She hissed and brought up her arm when she felt a sharp pain. For a second she wondered if the beast had scratched her, but it was a single line across her shoulder. Gunshots were firing she remembered. _Was I hit…no, it’s just a graze…it’s already been wrapped?_ That confused her, who had wrapped it up?

 _Furthermore, where the hell am I?_ She looked around. It was dusty, ill-kept and a little drafty, but it looked like a house of some kind. She was in the old bed and had been covered up with a relatively clean blanket. Someone was trying to take care of her…Looking out the window, it was still nighttime, so she didn’t think she’d been out too long. She pulled her phone out of her pocket. No signal, but it showed it was almost four in the morning. It’d been a little after midnight when they got to the city she was sure, so only a couple of hours.

There was the sound of something moving beyond the bedroom door. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and walked as quietly as she could out into the house proper. It was quaint once she was sure, but it looked like no one had actually _lived_ here in a long time. Yet the furniture was still there, as were lots of little figurines and other knick-knacks. Rounding the corner, she quickly ducked back when she saw a large, furred back moving in the kitchen. Swallowing, she moved so just her head was around the corner. She could see the front door, if she could just get to it—

She paused when she heard a kettle whistle, and blinked. Looking back at the kitchen, she saw there was a hotplate on the stove heating the kettle and a clawed hand delicately turned it off and grabbed the handle to pour over two mugs. The cord ran to a plug at the window with another cord running out to what sounded like a generator of some kind. Rosalee’s jaw fell. _It…knows how to use a hotplate? How?_ She moved forward a bit, confused and a bit in awe of an apparent animal doing this. Its ear flicked back, and it turned its head to her. She gasped when she saw its face properly. It ducked back quickly and fumbled, grabbing a sheet lying on the floor nearby. Wrapping up in it, it then gently grabbed the tray the mugs were sitting on and turned, shuffling almost comically carefully out of the kitchen towards her. The whole thing made her relax a little as it was obvious this wasn’t a bloodthirsty animal. As it got close enough, it held out the tray. She realized there were teabags seeping in the hot water.

“…Thank you,” she said, taking one. It said _Neither Rain nor Sleet nor Snow, but I need my Coffee_ on the side, with a picture of a stamp. Weird. Smelling the tea, she was surprised to find it was a chamomile blend she liked. She looked up at the creature. “…You saved me, right?”

The creature huffed a bit, setting the tray on the coffee table and grabbing the other mug.

“…Who are you?”

The creature hunkered down more, its grip on the cup tightening till it cracked at it hissed at the hot shards.

“Oh! Are you okay?” She moved towards it, but the beast backed away, shaking. “…Hey…Thank you, really. I know that was all scary, but we—my friends and I—we’re not here to hurt you. We want to help you.” She hesitated and then woged so only a Grimm should see, moving to see its eyes. It turned, the black of its eyes sinking into her. “You really do have a Grimm’s eyes…how…?”

The creature quickly pulled the sheet more over its face, rumbling as it backed away. It sounded almost mournful. Rosalee changed back and frowned worriedly. Then it’s head suddenly whipped up, ears twitching, pulling the sheet off, it moved to the door, looking out the window next to it. Rumbling, it turned back to her and motioned with its front paw—flat and gesturing at the floor.

“…Stay here?” she guessed.

It huffed, nodding.

 _It’s definitely human…it must be…_ “…Okay.”

It eyed her but then quickly opened the door and moved out, closing it again behind it. It didn’t lock though because it was apparently broken. She could leave if she wanted to, without much trouble other than not knowing where this place was or how to get back. Rosalee watched as it ran into the woods.

\------------------------------

Monroe was frantically sniffing, moving through the woods. “Where is this thing?! It’s been hours!”

“Monroe, we’ll find her,” Nick said.

“But what if it’s hurt her!? What if it…”

“It hasn’t hurt anyone before. It saved her from falling,” Nick said, squeezing his shoulder. “I was face to face with it and it…I swear it tried to communicate with me. It’s not a monster.”

“It looked like one…I say that after seeing plenty of them,” he said, calming only slightly.

“I know…but so did you the first time we met,” he pointed up.

“…Fair enough, I guess.”

“Just breath and focus,” Nick said.

“Yeah, man…if you get distracted, we’ll keep going around in circles again,” Hank nodded.

Monroe sighed and nodded, trying to center himself. He breathed in deeply, parsing out all the different scents coming to him. “…I got it. This way.” He headed forward and the others followed.

After a little while Monroe looked around and frowned. “This place…looks familiar.”

“Are we going in circles again?” Hank sighed.

“No, not from tonight…”

Nick came to a stop when he saw a clearing up ahead. In the clearing was a small cabin that was a bit dilapidated but no less familiar. “No way…it’s…”

“The house!” Monroe said. “From our first case together!”

“Oh yeah…” Hank said. “I remember it too…I thought you were nuts when you brought me here looking for that little girl…”

“It’s scent is super strong here though…” Monroe said. He then perked up. “And Rosalee’s…I got her scent, she’s here!” Monroe quickly began running towards the house.

Nick heard a gun clicking and barely managed to grab Monroe and pull him down before a shot struck a tree.

“That’s close enough, my lupine friend…” They looked up to see rider stepping forward, reloading his rifle.

“You…How did you get here?” Nick glared.

“I followed you. I figured you lot would find the creature eventually. My sense of smell isn’t the best—accident from a hunt. But my eyes and my ears work spectacularly. All I need to be a great hunter.” He raised the rifle. “But I don’t need help or witnesses to take my prize.”

Nick reached for his gun even though he knew he could draw in time. But he didn’t have to even try. A growl above drew all their attention and Rider swung the gun up just as the creature dropped down onto him. He screamed as it snarled and struck him—but rather than swipe with claws it punched him hard across the face. It then took the gun and smashed it against the tree, breaking it. Rider didn’t get knocked out though, instead he woged and they began rolling across the floor, snarling and yowling as they fought, clawed and bit at one another. Nick drew his gun, pointing it at them, but with how they were moving he couldn’t get a clear shot at Rider.

“Shoot, Nick!” Monroe said.

“I don’t have a clear shot!”

\---------------------

After the creature left, Rosalee looked at her phone again. She moved around, trying to get a signal, sighing as it remained unconnected. She wasn’t sure where she was, though the little figurines on the mantle struck her as creepy serial killer vibe for sure.

Moving further in, back towards the bedroom, she noticed another door. The cabin was small, but she could see the bathroom across from the room she woke up with the door off its hinges. So, this was another bedroom? Walking over, she tried the door and found it opened but the door a little swollen. Pushing, she got it open. It must’ve been the master at one point—there was a bed in the center with a dresser, freestanding closet, table, chair and rug all in place. They were nice once maybe, but the bed was broken and resting on the ground now. The sheets showed someone slept there though. Or something. There were clothes in a pile there as well, looking worn. What would the creature need with clothes?

Moving around, she could see a battery powered lantern on a nearby dresser and clicked it on. When it illuminated a wall of drawings she gasped and backed away a little. But then paused and leaned in. “That’s me…” She said, putting a hand on one of the drawings. “Nick, Hank, Monroe, Wu, Renard…Trubel? How…why?” she said, getting a little freaked out. There was more though. Pictures of wesen. Familiar styles to the sketches made her pause.

Then she saw a notebook. It looked like it had been fished out of the garbage but was still whole. Opening it, she flipped through.

_April 28_

_It’s been over a month since that night. I’ve gotten supplies on a previous trip, including the generator and hot plate. I stole them, but hey, do what you gotta do. I was worried I’d be seen, but I managed to keep to the shadows I think. A couple of times I went, and I scavenged for some food and other supplies. I found this notebook and some pens this time. I’m going to write things down. I’m hoping it’ll keep my mind sane for longer than a few hours._

_I don’t know what’s happening to me exactly. Only she knows for sure, and she’s dead. I can’t control myself during the day. At night, I turn into this…thing…I have my mind but not my voice. My reflection during the day taunts me, and this one is so terrifying I’d be shot dead if anyone saw it! What the hell do I do? What do I do?_

_What do I do what do I do what do I do…?_

Rosalee frowned, the phrase repeating and getting more and more off kilter and scrawling, as if the person was breaking down as they wrote. She flipped to the next page and felt her stomach dip when she saw what looked like blood.

_The pain is giving me a little clarity. They won’t leave me alone. I can’t think clearing enough to get help…when I get close others, awful thoughts are repeating to me. They tell me to hurt people, kill them—strangers, and the people I love! I attacked a man that first time in the city! I didn’t even realize! Why would she do this to me?! Did she become a monster?! Am I a monster?!_

A _YES_ was written in blood over that part.

There were more and more entries like that. Many short. All ticking between sanity and the kind of scrawls she’d expect from a Lovecraftian insanity.

_I miss my friends. I saw Monroe and Rosalee today._

That made her freeze and reread before going on.

_I’ve been going to the city more. For supplies yes, but to check on the others too. I’ve gone to Monroe and Rosalee’s house. They seem to be doing well. Why does that make me sad? I guess I just wonder if they miss me…_

It skipped forward a bit to another day.

_I went to the shop just to try and see Rosalee and Monroe. I saw them closing up. Monroe came out to take the trash. He was right below me. Dammit, I give him so much grief still, but I would give anything for him to talk to me! He looked up and I ran before he could really see me. I wanted to call out to him, but I knew it’d only sound like an animal. I don’t know how to tell anyone who I am. If he tried to attack me…I don’t know what I’d do. If he called Nick and he saw me, I think I’d rather they just kill me…_

Rosalee felt her heart ratcheting up and turned to the next entry.

_Nick’s not at his house! It has a sold sign! Shit, shit, shit, where is he!?_

_Maybe I should let them go. Maybe I am nothing but a monster now. Monster or an insane woman, both of those are awful choices. I’ll live as an animal or in an institution. Hell, with this transformation, maybe I’d be better off dead._

_June 29_

_Nick was at my house. I was debating breaking in to get some things, maybe see if I had anything left I could research to break this curse. Likely my day self would destroy it, but it’s worth a shot. He was there. He seemed upset. I don’t know why, but he was crying. Does he miss me? I feel bad that makes me happy. Could I figure out how to tell them? I thought about it, but he noticed me. I barely was able to get away. But I followed him. I’m a bit shocked I kept up with a car, but I managed to trail it back to what I guess is his new home. It’s like an old paint factory? Strange, but interesting. I wish I could see inside, but Kelly is there too. I have no idea how to explain this to her either…I’ve started sketching them. My mind is getting worse during the day. I’m scared I’m going to forget them…forget myself…_

“Oh my god,” Rosalee said, covering her mouth. She felt tears coming to her eyes. “Oh my god…”

_July 27_

_Adalind moved into my house. I wasn’t happy at first. I’ve been upset for a few days; I wasn’t sure why they were fixing up my house but for someone else? But then I peeked into the new window and saw the crib, and a bunch of cut letters on the wall. ‘Diana’ it said. Adalind is getting her baby back. That’s good. I want…I want my home back though…this place isn’t my home…this isn’t my mind, my body…help me, please…someone help me…_

Rosalee turned one more page and sobbed at the hard-scribed message, the pen raking across the page in big letters and there were splotches of ink like it broke in the writer’s hand from the pressure.

_YOU’LL DIE ALONE_

She sat down on the chair nearby, looking at the book with a cold realization. Then she heard a gunshot. Jumping up, she rushed out the bedroom door and to the front of the house. As she got outside, she saw the creature fighting with Grosvenor, who was woged into his Tiger form. Nick was aiming his gun at them.

“Shoot, Nick!” Monroe yelled.

“I don’t have a clear shot!”

“Just shoot!”

“No!!” Rosalee screamed, running towards them. “Don’t hurt her!”

“Rosalee?!” Monroe cried out, rushing to her.

Rosalee moved past him and pushed Nick’s hand down. “You can’t hurt her, Nick!”

“Her? What?” Nick said, confused.

There was a snarl as Grosvenor got the creature on its back, moving to bite its neck. But it got its legs under him and pushed sending him flying across the clearing. He rolled but then stood, fangs barred. “You put up a good fight, monster! But I’m taking your head with me, and then the rest of you will be collateral! I’ll have killed the maneater!”

“You can kill him though!” Rosalee said.

Nick didn’t need to be told twice, raising the gun and firing. Hank did as well, both firing twice at the man. Rider was hit in the chest and he staggered in shock. Then he dewoged and looked down. “I…you…”

“Go to hell,” Nick said.

The man glared but dropped to his knees and then onto his side, his breath coming in slow spurts before stopping.

The creature huffed, catching its breath and shaking its head. A claw mark was across its muzzle, not too deep but enough to have blood running down its face. It looked at the others. Rosalee quickly went over before they could stop her and hugged it around its neck. It looked surprised as the others were. “You’re alive…you’re really alive…”

“Rosalee? What’s going on?” Monroe asked.

Rosalee pulled back, looking at the beast’s eyes. And she knew them—she knew those eyes. “Sloane…you’re alive…”

The men’s jaws all dropped. “I…what did you say?” Hank asked.

The creature looked at him, then at Rosalee. Then at the book in her hand and rumbled. Rosalee smiled. “I know…usually reading someone’s diary is bad, but I know it’s you now…I know it’s you.” She wiped at her eyes. “I thought you died! I really thought you might be dead!”

She rumbled again, then whined and pressed her head to Rosalee’s. Rosalee laughed and cupped her beastly face gently. Her best friend was alive! Even if she wasn’t human, she was alive!

“Sloane?” Nick said, moving forward. “I…this can’t be…”

Rosalee looked at her and then flipped open the book, holding it out to him. “Look for yourself.”

Nick frowned and picked it up, looking it over. His eyes widened as he read the passage. “I…but how…”

“How could she write this? Because that’s my first question!” Monroe said, looking at it as well. The beast rumbled and actually rolled her eyes. “…Okay, you know what, I think it is her. Only she gives me that look.”

She huffed, giving a toothy grin. Nick was still shaking his head. “I just…I can’t believe…”

The grin faded, ears flattening back. Then they perked up again and she looked in one direction as the sky began lightening. Rumbling, she quickly stood up, getting loose from Rosalee and moving for the house quickly. Part way there though, she collapsed. Rosalee stood and they all rushed over as the light fell across the clearing. As it touched her body, there was a deep guttural shriek—like a howl and a roar merged as one, but it ended in a familiar voice. The creature’s body began to shrink, the furred skin sloughing off and turning into black smoke when it hit the ground. Pale human skin was beneath it. The hind legs cracked and reformed into human legs. The forelimbs shrank down, turning to hands again. The teeth, the face, the ears all receded with more grunts and guttural groans they’d only heard in horror movies.

Finally, Sloane Larson laid curled up on the ground, naked and shaking in the echoes of pain and shivering with sweat.

“Oh my God…it is her…” Hank said.

“W-wait here!” Rosalee ran inside and came out with the sheet the creature—Sloane had used before, laying it over her. Sloane groaned at the feeling. They noted with a touch of surprise that with her hair growing out, her natural color was showing down the center as a deep, dark brown for about three inches to the matted platinum blonde they knew around her shoulders. But one section at the front was still platinum all the way up to the roots.

Nick knelt next to her once she was covered, looking her over as if he couldn’t believe it was her. He really couldn’t, actually. How could that large animal be Sloane? In fact, she looked smaller than he remembered. Thinner. Tired. The claw marks across her face were little more than scratches now, shrunk down by her transformation. But there were other marks on her, old and new. He frowned but then moved her slightly and saw the scar on her chest. The one she’d given to herself to keep from hurting him. Healed over now into a thin white line just below her collarbone. “Sloane…” he said, kneeling down to pull her up into his arms and hug her, feeling a knot his gut had tied releasing.. “Oh my God…”

Sloane grunted and cracked her eyes open. “Nick…?”

“Hey…”

“Nick…no!” she said, quickly scrambling back, surprising him and wrapping the sheet around her tighter. “No no no, you can’t be here! None of you should be here!”

“Sloane? You brought me here,” Rosalee said.

“Because it was safe, but I was going to lead them back to you and you’d go and—you weren’t supposed to know it was me!” she said, her hand pulling at her hair. She quickly grabbed the sheet again when it started to slip, tying it around her like a toga.

“Sloane, it’s okay,” Nick said, standing to go to her.

“Yeah, we don’t care you turn into some kind of monster. I mean…” Monroe said.

“What he means is, we’re just glad we found you,” Hank said, smiling in relief.

Sloane looked pained rather than comforted, shaking her head. “But I’m not going to stay like this…”

“We’ll find out how to stop the transformations,” Nick said.

“No! You don’t understand, that’s just part of this!” she said, shaking her head.

“Then explain it to us,” Nick said, grabbing her shoulders before she could back away again. “We’re not letting you go again. Let us help.”

Sloane looked at him and he was shocked when he saw tears in her eyes. “I don’t even know if this is real anymore…”

Nick frowned. “What do you mean? It’s real…we’re here.”

Sloane gave a shuddering breath, closing her eyes. “I don’t know that for sure though…”

“…Guys, where did Grosvenor go?” Monroe asked. They all looked back, shocked to see he wasn’t there.

“Son of a…Okay, we need to go,” he said, tugging at Sloane.

“I can’t,” Sloane shook her head, moving away. “I just…Guys, I’m coherent now, but it’s not going to stay that way!”

“What do you mean?” Hank asked.

Sloane sighed and looked at the house. “…Let’s go in. I need…clothes. Then I’ll explain as best I can.”

They nodded and followed her in. “You know, we’ve been here before,” Nick said with a wry smile.

“Really?”

“Yeah. This is the Postman’s house. From the first case I ever had as a Grimm.” _And where I tried to fight Renard that one time…_

“Wow…I just found it. Thought I was lucky it was at least a roof over my head.” She headed for the back room. “I’ll be right back.

Nick hesitantly sat down on the old, musty couch, rubbing over his face. _She’s alive…we found her…but this curse, it’s not like anything we saw before now! What do we do?_

A few minutes later Sloane shuffled back out and Nick sat up straighter when he recognized the clothes. “You…I saw you at Grosvenor’s camp, too…You ran from me. The second time too.”

Sloane hesitated but sighed. “I didn’t know if anyone would recognize me…I didn’t want to be found. And when I saw you and I panicked. But I still…”

“What? Why would you panic?” Monroe asked.

“…Let me start from the beginning,” she sighed.

\----------------------------

_Six months ago_

She was in a car. She could tell that much. But she was lying flat. There were people around her. They were talking about her—something about her blood pressure rising. Was that good? What was happening? _Juliette…Juliette did something to me…God, the pain was awful! I’d never felt that before, nothing Dierdre ever did prepared me for that. It still kind of hurts…it still…_

She groaned, feeling the pain rising again, but it was concentrated in her head instead of all over.

“She’s waking up,” someone said.

Sloane cracked her eyes open. There were people around her—in suits, not dressed like paramedics. Something wasn’t right. Who were they? Where was Nick? And Juliette?

“Ms. Larson? Can you hear us?” one of them asked.

“What’s going on?” she muttered, trying to focus her eyes.

“We’re taking you somewhere for medical treatment. You’ve been out for a couple of hours. Can you tell us how you feel?”

“Like I got hit but a bus…” she muttered.

“Well, it would be what you deserved.”

Sloane froze at that and cracked open an eye. Through the people, down near her feet, she saw another figure hunched over. They looked familiar, with dark hair and tan skin, but wearing a pink top and jeans that stood out. “What…? I…know you, don’t I…?”

“What?”

“Who’s she talking to?”

“Ms. Larson? You shouldn’t know any of us.”

“Not you, the girl,” she said, trying to sit up. The suits tried to keep her down and Sloane looked up to tell them off but froze. Their faces were like nothing she’d seen before. They were black bottomless pits—like pools of ink where their faces should be.

“Ms. Larson?” the person closest to her asked again, his voice echoing like it was coming from within a cave.

“What…what’s wrong with your…”

“You really want to know?” Sloane turned to the girl again and she raised her head, so her face wasn’t hidden by her hair. Sloane drew in a sharp breath when she saw the bullet holes in her chest and the dead eyes staring at her. “But then…you probably already do.”

“M…Maria…?”

The agents looked at one another, confused. They couldn’t see anyone else in the car. But Maria was looking right at her. The girl Sloane had shot and killed more than a decade ago by accident trying to save her sister. “They want to help you…but do you deserve that?” Her eyes turned red, like blood, and she grabbed Sloane’s leg. “Do you?!” she screamed, her mouth opening wider than it should.

“Let go of me!” Sloane yelled, fear coursing through her. She kicked out and began struggling and the agents all tried to hold her down. “Let go!” She pulled her hand up despite one trying pin her arm and punched the closest man to her. Another tried to stop her, and she grabbed his shirt and managed to shove his head right through the glass between them and the front of the car. The driver cursed and they began swerving. Sloane kicked the others off her and sat up. “Let me out!”

“Ms. Larson!”

She slammed her elbow back in trying to get away from the girl in front of her and hit the driver, who jerked the wheel again by accident. They went off the road and slid to the bottom of the hill, hitting a tree. Everyone was stunned, groaning after being thrown around. Sloane was still moving though, climbing out of the car. She quickly ran for the woods, but she could still hear Maria’s voice in her mind. More voices were joining it and among the trees she saw shadows moving—too many to be real, all bleeding and all someone she knew she must’ve killed as surely as she knew they couldn’t be real. But they felt real.

“You can run, Sloane. But your past is going to catch you.”

“I didn’t…I was just…”

“Just what? Can you say we all deserved this?” A man asked, his throat bloody.

“Are you going to blame your training again?” A woman asked, a hole in her chest.

“I…” She yelled, doubling over as pain coursed through her body. The night was dark, but she could see fine as her fingers began to elongate, grow claws, grow fur. “Wha-what’s happening?!”

“You always thought of us as monsters…”

“Now you get to see what it feels like. The mind of a human, the body of an animal…”

“Till the daytime. We’ll be there to remind you why you deserve this.” The faded from view but Sloane’s body kept burning as she burst through the seams of her shirt, her paints, felt like her bones were growing and deforming, her skin stretching and growing fur. It was a pain she’d never felt before and couldn’t describe, and as she screamed it turned into a roar.

When the pain finally receded, she laid for a while trying to get her bearings. When it seemed like the pain was gone, she tried to stand only fall over. She felt heavy. Not just sluggish, but honestly heavier. Grunting, she looked at her hands again, and saw those claws and fur were not hallucinations. _What…what’s going on?_ She tried to get her legs under her, but the curve of her spine made it hard to stand up straight. _No, this can’t be right…first I’m seeing things, now I’m…I’m some kind of animal?! How can this be happening?! It’s gotta be a dream! But the pain was real…_ It took several tries to get to all fours and figure out how to move. _This can’t be real! I’ve never heard of a curse or spell or anything that does this!_

“Ms. Larson! Sloane! Are you out here?” Someone was calling. Sloane looked over and was able to see perfectly through the dark that some of the people in suits were looking for her. She tried to speak, ask who they were, but only a deep rumble pitching up to a shriek came out.

“What the hell was that?!”

“A deer…maybe?” another said, sounding a little worried.

“No deer I ever heard…” Sloane could see him draw a gun from inside his suit.

 _I can’t talk…they might shoot first and ask questions later. I need to get out of here!_ Turning, she stumbled through the underbrush in an ungainly mass of limbs and fur.

Her night was spent trying to figure out how to move properly. She could barely walk before morning came and when the first bit of sun fell on her, so did that unbearable amount of pain. Her body shrank back down, and fur turned back to skin.

“Oh…thank god,” she groaned. “Except no clothes…great.” She huffed and started walking again, trying to find a way to get help.

It was about an hour into hiking when she heard something up ahead that sounded like a river. _The Willamette…maybe I can follow it upstream, get some help._ She headed for the water and sighed, kneeling. _I could use a drink too while I’m at it…looks clean enough._ _I’ve drunk worse._ Cupping her hands, she moved to bring the water to her lips…and immediately spat it out when she tasted the coppery, thick taste of blood.

“What the hell?” she gasped, looking at the red on her hands.

“Does it surprise you?” She looked up and stumbled away from shore when she saw Maria standing in the water. “It shouldn’t…you have so much blood on your hands…”

“Y…You’re not real,” Sloane said, closing her eyes. “You’re…”

“Dead. Yes, I know. And you’ve lived almost ten years more than me…”

“It was an accident,” Sloane choked out, spitting more of the bloody taste out of her mouth. “I…I told you not to come with us! Not to follow us!”

“So, it’s my fault you shot me?” Maria said coldly. Sloane watched as the red seeped out more from where maria was standing, the bullet wounds trickling down her front. “What about the others?” Faces started floating up to the surface like apples bobbing in a barrel. Or more like dead fish—glassy eyed, pale beneath the red. “Can you say everyone you killed _deserved it?_ Can you say it was their fault?”

Sloane tried to back away and gasped when one of the bodies grabbed her ankle and _pulled_ her towards the water. It was crying, the tracks cleaning the blood from its face. “Please…don’t kill me…”

 _No, it’s not real!_ She kicked out and quickly stood and ran back into the woods. She tried to catch her breath and looked at her hands again. Clean. Blinking, she looked back at the river to see it was clear. _It…it really isn’t real…but I felt…_

She felt breath on her neck near her ear. “You’re never clean, Sloane. Now that you can hear us, I’m going to make your daylight hours a living hell.”

“Collin?!” She screamed, turning around. Nothing.

_Oh god…what’s happening to me…?_

\-----------------

The rest of the day went similar. Sloane tried drinking from the river again and managed a few sips. Then she kept moving. Around ever tree she felt like eyes were watching her. She saw faces of people she killed. Some she didn’t even have names for. Some she didn’t remember right away. And they knew. And they berated her.

That night she changed again—trading her body for her mind it seemed like the visions didn’t haunt her when she was like this. She tried speaking but a muzzle wasn’t built to say human words. The big teeth didn’t help either. She kept moving through the woods, trying to think what to do. The rain wasn’t helping. Wet fur felt heavy and made it even harder for her to move on all fours. She found a place to sleep since that’s all she could do, and she was tired. And hungry. Before morning she filled her stomach with water again. Then she transformed. And it was another day of torment by ghosts and visions.

When she found the little log cabin on the third night, she was shocked. It was obviously abandoned—ivy was overgrown around the entrance, the logs of the cabin were black, and it had a general aura of abandonment. Moving to it, she awkwardly tried the knob. Her clawed paw was hand-like after all. It wouldn’t budge. Growling, she slammed her paw into the door and jumped when it cracked off its hinges. _Ah…well, that works I guess…_ Moving inside, she looked around. The place looked abandoned—but not moved out. Old furniture sat with dust and who knows what else collecting on it. Little figurines were around, dirty and some cracked and broken.

Moving past the mantle, she turned and caught her reflection in a mirror above it—and nearly fell over. _Oh my god! That…that’s what I look like?_ She groaned, reaching up to touch the mirror. The bright colors of her face were garish—red and blue and white. Like a clown, but more animal-like. And the teeth! Sharp, but sticking out at all odd angles from her lower jaw. No wonder it felt so heavy and awkward. _I look…like a monster…_ Her hand balled up and she roared and punched the mirror. It shattered, the pieces falling to the old wooden floor. Her hand wasn’t even hurt she realized, shaking it out. She then shook her head, feeling foolish. But she didn’t want to see herself like this.

Moving more listlessly, she went to the kitchen and began searching the cupboards. _C’mon…food…I need food…_ Nothing in the cupboards was any good though. Nothing was in the fridge either—and obviously it wasn’t even working. Groaning, she snarled and raked her claws across the cabinet.

Then she heard something outside. Huffing, she went to the door and looked out. Her ears swiveled—and that felt weird as hell—around to find the source of the sound. And then she saw it. _Is that…a wild turkey?_

Sloane felt like her jaw was suddenly aching. _I can’t…I can’t just—not with my bare hands and mouth like an animal! I can’t!_

\----------------

The feathers were a bitch to pluck after she caught it, but in the end she managed. She even found a way to start a fire and roast it, to keep a little of her standards. It fed her for a few days, along with some wild plants she recognized.

The house became a sort of home base. She found some old clothes—men’s, definitely—and at night took them to the river to wash them since the washing machine was busted. And the whole no power thing. She couldn’t wear them till the next day and kept herself in the house. She hoped maybe indoors would be safe from the visions. It wasn’t. Maria and the others constantly hounded her, and she saw more blood than she ever remembered seeing before. The next day wasn’t bad. She thought maybe they were quieting down. But then they came back when she woke to seeing a swamp of blood in the bedroom, with hands reaching for her. It disappeared after she closed her eyes for long enough.

Hunting again at night, she actually took down a deer. That would feed her for a while she knew, if she could keep the meat good. She mostly ate at night now. She tried to sleep during the day only to have nightmares that kept her up. So, she ate, slept, walked around for a bit, then tried to get a bit more sleep before the pain of transformation. That’s how she spent her first two weeks while she tried to figure out what to do. That was the routine for a while, hunting at night and staying locked inside during the day, before she decided she needed to try and get home.

So, she dressed and started out early in in the morning after changing back. She figured she could just tell herself it wasn’t real. No matter how disturbing it was, the visions couldn’t hurt her physically. She’d seen the bridge on a hunt before and crossed over, turning away from illusions of a line of judging, bloody faces all the way to the other end. _I just have to get home…I can contact Nick and the others, try to explain…_

When she got to the city proper, it was crowded, and she felt a bit of trepidation. But she took a dep breath and kept walking, sticking to some of the more deserted back ways and into the park. The boots she found were old, big, and not in the best condition, so she could feel them rubbing a few places. She didn’t have her wallet or phone—those had been taken she was pretty sure, either by Juliette or the people in suits. _Still want to know who whose guys were too…_

She was deep in thought on possibilities when she bumped into someone. “Hey, watch it!”

“Sorry…” She mumbled.

“Shouldn’t you be in an alley somewhere?” Sloane paused and looked down. She guessed she did look a little like a homeless person. But she didn’t want to deal with a jerk and kept trying to walk. “Hey, I’m talking to you, trash!”

The hand fell on her shoulder. Sloane tried to shrug it off, but the man pulled her back and actually pushed her into a nearby tree in the park. She actually looked at them now and saw they were a gang of some kind. Bunch of younger guys, not teens but not really adults either.

“Hey, c’mon man, she’s just a homeless woman…” one of them said.

“Actually, she’s not bad looking,” another said.

“Yeah, she ain’t,” the instigator smiled. He reached up and to cup her face. “Maybe we could have a little fun with her…”

“Dude…”

“What? She’s a homeless bitch, no one’s gonna give a shit! Can always take care of her if she tries to tell anyone.”

Sloane felt her blood start to boil. Then Collin’s voice was in her ear. “Would anyone give a shit about them? How many have they hurt do you think?”

The man smiled, reaching up to her shirt.

That was the last thing she remembered before coming back to her senses on top of the man, his bloody face coughing and crying. She was confused till her fist stung and she looked at it to see it was bloody. There was another couple of guys on the ground who had probably tried to stop her, groaning.

She jumped when she heard a scream and looked up to see a couple walking their dog. The dog was barking, snarling at her.

“N-No, I didn’t—they were—”

“We’re calling the police!”

 _I am the police!_ She thought about screaming but the dog was snarling at her like she was the monster.

“Why are you surprised? Violence is your answer to everything isn’t?” A voice asked. She could see from the corner of her eye a disheveled Lowan look at her with a bloody mane. “You always think they deserve it…but are you sure they did?”

Sloane blinked and looked down again. The man suddenly wasn’t dressed like before but instead was in a button up and khaki’s, crying and asking for help pathetically. Sloane felt her stomach turn.

“No…No, I didn’t…”

“You did.”

Sloane could hear police sirens and took off. She heard the couple yelling at her and the dog barking, but she managed to get away through the trees. Getting back to the streets, several people backed away from her and her bloody fist and clothes while she kept running for the bridge and back towards the woods. Once across, she shakily put her hand in the water of the river, trying to wash some of the blood away. “I didn’t…I didn’t want to do that…”

“You didn’t?”

“No! I mean, he was talking tough, and I was thinking I might need to defend myself, but I didn’t even realize I was…”

“Beating him to a pulp? Why feel bad, he’ll live. Might need a little surgery…” Collin said.

“…You’re dead. You’re not real. I don’t even know if what you showed me there was real, maybe he was trying to hurt me…”

“Or maybe he was trying to help you…”

Sloane blinked and heard the man’s voice change to concern in her memories. _“Are you alright? You don’t look so good, ma’am…”_

She felt bile grow in her throat. “That’s not what happened…”

“But are you sure?” Collin asked, leaning down to her ear. His breath felt real and she reflexively tried to push him away only to feel the air. “You don’t know what’s real anymore, darling,” he laughed, his voice floating in the rays of sun through the trees.

Sloane felt cold and like it was hard to breathe. She quickly stood and ran for the woods, back towards the house again.

\------------------

It was about a month later, if her tally marks on the wall in the bedroom were any indication, that she first tried to get to the city in her beast form at night. She wanted to try and get some more supplies. Things she wanted to at least try and feel like she wasn’t a crazy monster woman living in the woods. It was harder and more dangerous to go as a beast when others wouldn’t understand, but she could at least control herself and hopefully not hurt anyone.

She’d also gotten more control over this body. She could walk and run well, though on all fours. She could also climb trees lightning quick she found, thanks to her claws and some spring loaded back legs. Her nights needed to be filled out somehow and sleep wasn’t her first choice because these hours were the only time she didn’t feel like she was losing her mind. She hoped working through this and controlling her new body meant she’d be good at getting away if necessary when she went to town.

She crossed over the railroad bridge this time, figuring there was less of a chance of being seen that way. Once on the other side, she quickly ducked into the nearby alley. Moving through they backways and alleys, she got to one of the big box sports stores she was looking for. It was also closed. Not that she planned on waltzing in with being all hair and teeth, but it did make getting inside more difficult. It also had security cameras.

The first one was on the outside of the building facing the back door. Huffing, she tried to think how to avoid being seen. She paced a little, then paused and looked at the roof. _I can climb trees pretty well…could I climb a building?_ She wiggled her front finger-like paws, claws tapping on the concrete. Huffing, she geared up and jumped—and nearly got to the roof in one go. Shocked, she scrabbled and her claws actually dug into the brick and let her climb. It wasn’t graceful, but she got to the roof. Looking at her paw, her claws were fine as well. _I could really hurt someone with these…better be careful._ Moving to over the back door, she reached down and grabbed the camera, rushing it in her grip. _I’m strong too…if I didn’t look like a baboon’s ass this might not be so terrible. Ah! Shit, there’s an alarm to this door…_ she realized, looking at the wire running over the top. Growling, she looked around to try and figure something else out. She saw there was a skylight up top and moved to it. _No wires for an alarm, goes to the warehouse part in back…this’ll work._ Busting it open wide enough to jump down was easy. Her fur was also thick enough to protect her from the glass. _Better hurry._ She quickly moved around and grabbed what she wanted—a portable solar generator first and foremost. Expensive, but the best solution she had for power. And she wasn’t paying for it with the five finger (or claw) discount. Add to that a hot plate and electric kettle. There was pots and pans and other things still at the house luckily, but fires were a little dangerous to use all the time. She’d learned that after falling asleep and nearly burning down the yard trying to make deer jerky (which failed and wasted a good portion of her deer). She’d put it out with a blanket luckily. Which reminded her, she grabbed a couple of blankets.

_Okay…that should be enough for now. I don’t think they’ll miss this stuff too much, not like I’m stealing a couple thousand worth…how do I carry all this?_

Sighing, she added a wagon and bungee ties to her list. Loading it up and tying it all down, she wheeled it to the door and then braced herself before charging. The first hit didn’t do it, but the second hit broke the lock and started the alarm. Grabbing the wagon, she quickly dragged it out and ran for it. It was a bumpy wild ride for the wagon and for her running on three legs with one holding the handle, but she’d tied it down well with the blankets and chords to keep her ill-gotten gains together. _I know I used to steal things from those I hunted, but somehow this is just being a common thief…is that better or worse?_

Pushing aside the little moral question, she got to the bridge and took things a little slower to get the wagon all the way across. A good thing about the night was there was no train coming, and no ships to make the bridge raise itself. She managed to get the wagon all the way across. Sighing, she rested and then took her time getting back to the house. Then she collapsed and fell asleep.

\------------------

A few nights later she tried hunting again. She managed to get a few rabbits—smaller bits would last better she felt.

“Did you hear something, Jamie?”

Sloane looked up, ears twitching. Someone was in the woods. It was still a good several yards away though.

“You’re just imagining things. C’mon, we’ll get to the campsite soon.”

“You said that thirty minutes ago! You’re lost, aren’t you!?”

“No!”

“I knew we shouldn’t have gone for a hike at night!”

“You thought it’d be romantic.”

“I thought we might meet a serial killer!”

Sloane rolled her eyes, blocking the conversation out as she gathered her rabbits to head back. But her path took her towards the campers. _Oh great…better make this quick._ She began running.

“I hear something! What is that?!”

“Are you recording? This isn’t Blair Witch!”

“Don’t make me think about that!” She turned the phone around just as Sloane crossed their path and she heard the scream but just winced and kept running. Both campers were running away, which was for the best honestly as she made her way back to the house. She was sure nothing would come from that…

\------------------

The stolen items helped. The generator let her run the hot plate and kettle, boiling water. She felt better about drinking the boiled water. Returning to the city, she’d grabbed a five-gallon water jug from a grocery store chain and filled it regularly to have a more ready supply. She also found a large amount of old brown butcher paper, a notebook, pens, pencils and other goods.

She began recording things down in a diary. It helped her focus at times and remember what was happening. But more than that, a part of her was scared of forgetting things. She sketched pictures of people she missed from memory, but some never seemed quite right to her. Still she pinned them up on the wall of the bedroom and promised she’d find a way to safely get to them. A way she wouldn’t end up hurting them or worse—and vice versa.

Then another month later she broke the electric kettle when she threw it at a wall trying to get a spinnetod woman she’d killed on her wedding day to shut up. She’d saved her husband from being eaten like her last husband, she refused to be guilted by that. But a large spider woman in a blood covered wedding dress was always kind of freaky.

She’d wanted to get other things anyway, so she tried the same method on a different store, a more varied big box one. She managed to get the kettle, the toiletries and a few more things in an old backpack she’d found.

“Who’s there?”

Sloane straightened and turned her head, seeing a shadow coming through the shelves. _They have a night guard? Shit!_

Rushing for the door, she managed to get it open and rush out.

“Hey!”

Sloane didn’t slow but she could hear the man coming to the door. Without much else, she jumped and climbed to the top of the building with the bag in her mouth. He came out, shining the light around and dialing a number into his phone. _That was close…_ taking the bag out of her mouth, she cursed when she saw she’d put several holes in it. But she just sighed and waited. Unfortunately, the area was crawling with police in a matter of minutes. Growling, she tried to think of what she could do before eyeing the roof of the nearby building. Jumping across an alley wouldn’t be easy, not one this size made for trucks going between the buildings. But with the night dwindling she didn’t have a lot of choices if she didn’t want to be found naked on the roof of a building talking to nothing.

Backing up, she took a running start and leapt as hard as she could. Which was pretty hard apparently because she made it and then had trouble landing and rolled.

“You guys here something?” one of the officers asked.

“Not really, why?”

“…Nothing I guess.”

Sloane breathed out, then cursed when she realized the bag was now very ripped and several things had fallen out. She collected what she could and then made her way back to the bridge via the rooftops. It was actually kind of exhilarating jumping from roof to roof. Maybe this was the better option?

\------------------

Sloane tried again during the day to go to town about two and a half months later. She kept her head down, kept to only the most deserted areas, and moved quickly.

She wanted to see her friends.

She went to the shop first. It was early so she waited in the alley. Then she saw Rosalee drive up. She smiled and stood. _Maybe I can go…explain what’s happening…Rosalee will understand, she’ll help me…_

“And you’ll kill her.”

Sloane’s very human nails hurt when she gripped the wall. “I will not,” she hissed.

“You will,” Collin said. “You lost control before. You’ll lose it here.”

“I will not!”

“You’re talking to me like I’m here, love,” he said sweetly.

Sloane pressed her lips together.

“And you have a very sharp object in your hand already.”

Her eyes widened and she looked down to see she’d grabbed a broken pipe, the end sharp. It was real. She quickly dropped it and backed away.

“You don’t want to kill her, hm? What makes her special?” Maria asked, Sloane turning to see her at the other end.

“Please…I just want to…”

“What makes her special? How many foxes did you already kill?”

Several shadows appeared in the alley, all Fuchsbau or another kind of fox wesen in shape, and Sloane covered her eyes. “Stop it!”

“Why? Did you ever think you wouldn’t kill them? Everyone who loves you dies, you know. Dies or leaves you…”

“That’s not true—” She uncovered her eyes. And before her was Nick, Rosalee, Monroe, Hank, Wu, Renard, Adalind, Bud, Mim, Jean, Jacob—all of her loved ones, dead and covered in blood.

“And you’ll be the one to kill them soon…that’s how this ends.”

Sloane felt like she couldn’t breathe. Their glassy eyes were looking at her with such deep betrayal and anger. Turning, she vomited what little she’d eaten that morning over the street. Tears were running down her cheeks. “It’s not real…it’s not real…” she sobbed.

“But it could be. If you don’t want to kill them…you better stay away,” Collin said. The gentle tone was one he’d never used in life. But it mocked her all the same as she turned and ran back the way she came.

She hadn’t anticipated meeting anyone on the trail near the house. But she’d moved too far north and ended up meeting a homeless camp near the St. John’s bridge.

“Hey there!” Someone shouted to her. Sloane backed away a little but the man, an older man with a cap and beard, waved at her. “It’s okay! We won’t hurt you.”

She hesitated but moved slowly down to them. “What…are you all doing here?”

“What does it look like?” a woman asked.

“Don’t get snippy, Sweetpea!” the man said. “We’re camping here, hon. I thought you were looking for a place to stay?”

“I…no, I’m just passing through…” she said.

“Well, sit for a bit and have a little something,” he said. “You look like you’ve been through hell!”

“…Feels like it,” Sloane nodded, sitting. She was surprised when he held out a can of tuna to her and a box of crackers.

“Here you go! Have a little something to settle your stomach.”

“…You don’t have to—” she started.

“Hey, if we don’t look out for each other, who will. I’m Maurice by the way.”

“…S…Sarah,” she said, hesitated to say her real name.

“Nice to meet you. No go on, have a little.”

Sloane opened the can and started eating the fish with the crackers. “Thank you…”

“You’re welcome. So, got a story, Sarah?”

“…just…going through some stuff…”

“We all are,” the woman said, the others murmuring in agreement.

“…I’m not sure what to do about it…”

“Is it an addiction?” a man asked.

“Ah, no, it’s…”

“Mental?” Maurice guessed.

“…Yeah.”

He sighed and nodded. “It’s a tough thing to deal with. You got anyone you can go to?”

“…Not…kind of? But I don’t want to…”

“Just go,” Sweetpea said. “Better to go when you got’em.”

“She has a point,” Maurice nodded.

“It’s not that easy! I don’t want to burden them more! Or…” _Hurt them…_

“Honey, if they think you’re a burden, they’re the ones not worth it,” she sighed. “I thought like that too. Thought that way right out of my family’s life. Now I wish I’d just stayed and…”

“Slipping back is dangerous,” another guy said. “It happens. I mean we’re all here because of that for the most part, right?”

“Yeah, but it’s easier with people to help,” Maurice said.

“…Thanks. But I…it’s complicated.” She finished the snack and stood. “I should go…”

“You don’t have to.”

“No, I…I really do. But thank you.”

“Any time.” They waved as she walked up the hill and Sloane was worried they disappear as she left. But they were still there when she looked back. She headed back to the house and sighed as she laid down on the mattress. _Easier with people to help…I know that, but how? And isn’t it better I just stay away? Not hurt them?_

\-----------------------

She couldn’t stay away. She missed them. She missed them so desperately she was getting more and more prone to just staying inside whatever form. Seeing them would help she felt. So, she went a few days later at night to check up on Rosalee and Monroe. They were doing well it seemed. Most of her was glad, but there was a little part of her that felt a tinge of bitterness that they were apparently doing just fine. Were they looking for her? Were they still worried?

_Those visions are getting to me…I need to stop being so susceptible to those kinds of thoughts. I know they miss me…_

Sure enough, her insecurities came into play in the visions soon enough. Various faces from her past taunting her that she wasn’t missed. That they didn’t need her. She did her best to sleep through them and the nightmares to get her energy for the night.

When she went to check Nick’s house the next night, she paused when she saw a different car in the driveway. Two in fact. And a kid’s bike on the front porch. _What…?_ Moving closer, she managed to peek in. She saw a family on the couch watching TV in a newly decorated living room. Moving boxes were still in the corner. _He moved…where?! Where’s Nick?!_

She ducked down quickly when the young boy on the couch looked over to her. “…Dad, I think there’s something outside…”

“Something?”

“Like a big animal…”

Sloane quickly bounded off before the father could see her, but her heart was hammering in her chest. _Where’s Nick? Where did he go? H-he must’ve just moved. He’s got to be alright…I haven’t seen him since that night though…_ She whined a little, thinking, but ran off quickly towards the city again. She tried to search but she wasn’t used to tracking by scent. What did Nick smell like again? _Pine…gun oil…coffee…_ She sighed and shook her head. None of those were something she’d be able to find in all the other scents in the city.

She went back to the house but returned every night. She figured that eventually, Nick would show up at the shop. Monroe almost spotted one night, but she managed to duck away and out of sight she was sure. Finally, he did show up. She got there just as they were getting ready to leave the shop and she followed from the rooftops, not knowing someone filmed her that night as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop to try and keep up with their car. It wasn’t easy and she was winded by the time they turned off to head to the dump nearby. _The dump…? Why here?_ She had to catch her breath for a while and when she finally entered she couldn’t find them anywhere. But there was a lot of other scents in the air. _So many people…but it’s off…like…animals of some kind…_ She shrank back and hid among the garbage when she finally saw the others come out of a fridge of all things. It must’ve led to something under the trash pile.

Then the Reinegen appeared. _So that’s what I was smelling…There’s so many of them though, where did they all—HOLY SHIT!_ The last was her thought as she watched them all converge together and form a giant rat. _What the holy hell—how do they—wait! A rat king? That’s what this is, right? I heard Collin talk about this once…_ Her attempts down memory lane were cut short when the rat started going after her friends. Hank tried to shoot it, but it brushed the shot off like it was just a fly bite and then moved for them while they ran. _Oh no you don’t!_ Rushing out, she fit her mouth full of sharp teeth around the Rat King’s ankle. It screamed and tried to get away from her, but she locked her jaw. The taste of blood was disgusting, and she didn’t want to think about what kind of disease it might have, she just shook her head to try and shred muscle like a blender. It screamed again, the sound earsplitting. Then it swung its leg back and kicked—sending her flying into a pile of garbage. It hurt and she groaned as it all fell on top of her. _No…I gotta stop it…it’ll hurt them…_

She tried to crawl out and as she did, she heard a gunshot, then a scream and the lights around the dump flickered. Looking up, she saw the rat king fall after being hit by powerlines. _Ha! That’s my guys…guess you didn’t really need me after all…_ That unexpectedly stung to think.

“Nick?” Hank called.

“I want to check on what attacked him!” she heard him call back, hearing his footsteps coming right towards her.

 _No, no, no, he can’t see me! Not like this!_ Shuffling more, she managed to pull herself out from under the garbage and run back towards the other side of the dump and climb the fence as quickly as she could. She grunted when she landed and moved for the tree lined hill near the dump. Her back hurt a little bit from being thrown around but she didn’t think she was at any risk of a serious injury. From the tree line she looked back and could just barely see him and the others from the hill. _…Do you need me?_

“They don’t.”

She jumped and looked around. She thought she heard Collin’s voice, which shouldn’t be possible right now. Grunting at herself, she tried to get her mind back in order and headed for the bridge.

\-------------------

The next night she went to her house. It was still boarded up she noticed. No repairs had been done yet. In fact, it looked like no one had been here since that night. Her yard and the garden she’d started was overgrown with tall grass and weeds, but that worked in her favor to help hide her a bit more as she moved around the back. _I…don’t know why I came. My Grimm stuff isn’t here, and not a lot might’ve survived anyway…_ She stood to look through the window of her bedroom. Her other things were still there. _Maybe I just wanted to remind myself what I was before all this…_

She jumped when she heard a car pull up and hunkered down into the shadows. She was surprised to see it was Nick. _What’s he doing here? I mean, I gave him a key but why…?_ Nick went inside and she inched her head up so she could peek through the blinds. He was just…wandering around, looking at her things. But he seemed lost. He looked around her living room a while before going to the burnt area of the backroom. She went back and managed to see him through a small gap in the boards. He was looking at the damage sadly, then found the old notepad she’d used when she first came to Portland in the desk drawer. The one with the little crude map on it to find her car. She was a bit chagrined remembering the first impression she made, but he smiled at it fondly. He set it back in and walked away and she followed. She could see him sit down on her bed in her bedroom, staring at nothing for a few minutes before he leaned down and put his face in his hands. _Nick, are you…crying…?_ She’d wanted them to miss her but seeing Nick cry made her feel guilt more than anything. _I don’t…I don’t want him to see me like this…but I don’t want him to…if he stays here till sunrise, maybe…_

He didn’t though. It was maybe about an hour before he finally got his composure and stood. Rubbing over his face, he headed back to the front and Sloane followed without thinking—right in front of the French doors. Thoughts of showing herself to him fled when she saw that monstrous shadow. But more so when she saw Nick had paused seeing it. She quickly raced back to the tall grass, but he was walking to the door and unlocking it.

“Hello?” he called. Sloane crouched low, backing away. Nick squinted in the night, seeing the grass move no doubt. “Who’s there?”

Sloane resisted trying to talk and turned to run around the back of the house. She heard Nick following and cursed. Getting to the fence, she leapt and vaulted over the side facing the street. But she didn’t run far. She went just enough that Nick wouldn’t see her right away as he climbed in his car.

 _This is going to be an endurance run…Let’s go!_ She followed his car from the shadows, jumping to the roofs when she got to the city and keeping him in sight even when he was ahead of her. She was scared she lost him a couple of times but found him again before she lost him for good. Eventually he finally pulled up to what appeared to be an old paint factory. She cocked her head but watched as he went inside. She waited a moment, then got to the building next to it and leapt onto the roof. Getting to the side, she lowered her head enough while bracing herself she could see into the windows at the top. She surprised to see it was actually outfitted to live in. _This is where he’s living now? Interesting…_

She gasped when she saw who was at the counter eating a grilled cheese. _Trubel? Oh, she’s okay! Thank God…I just kind of vaguely remember her getting captured too, I’d hoped she was okay._ She eased down a little, watching them for a time through the windows. Nick came in then and she ducked her head back up before he noticed her. _So, this is where he is…good. I just wanted to be sure he was okay…_ It was mostly the truth. She’d been worried about him, and more so when she couldn’t find him.

Settling down for a bit, she perked back up only a little while later when she heard his car leaving again. _What now? Should I follow?_

“Is someone there?” Sloane’s eyes widened and she turned to see Kelly at the entrance that led down to the loft. She hadn’t heard her come up—she still had her stealthy abilities it seemed, even with an eyepatch. Her other eye must not have been perfect either as she was squinting hard in the dim light. “Who’s there?”

Sloane turned and leapt from the loft roof to the next one. Looking up, she saw Kelly moving to where she’d been, running a hand over the ledge. Rumbling, Sloane turned and headed back for the woods, making note of where the loft was for future reference.

\--------------------

When she came back after a few days, she saw that her house was being renovated and fixed up. That made her happy, but she noted also that all her things were gone. That made her worried. She visited Monroe and Rosalee’s, then went to the loft to make sure Nick was alright. She noticed he seemed on edge the last few days, though she couldn’t tell why.

It was a month later she saw that Adalind had moved into her house. For a moment anger flashed through her—that was hers! That was her home, her safe place! She was coming back someday! There was a huge temptation for her to bust in and roar and stake her claim like an animal. But then she saw the back room. She was in the middle of painting it, but one wall was done and had the name _Diana_ on it in big puffy letters. A crib was being assembled too. And Kelly was moving into the other room it looked like.

 _She’s getting her daughter back…that’s good…I guess…one of the others probably suggested this. Maybe they think I’m dead…maybe I’m not coming back. They think I’m not coming back I mean._ She moved away from the house then, heading for the loft. Nick was alone now. Sloane watched him for a bit as he used the punching bag downstairs, then came up and had a beer before bed. She jumped to the loft roof when he did. She wanted to stay close but drew the line at watching him sleep.

 _…What if I don’t get better? What if I’m like this the rest of my life? Am I always going to be on the outside, looking in?_ The questions kept coming, her heart drumming in her ears. She began pacing the roof of the loft like a cage as she tried to think about what to do. _I should go…I shouldn’t be here!_ She jumped back to the other building and turned, looking at the loft again. She didn’t realize that her shadow was being cast by the streetlight nearby till she saw Nick’s moving inside. She considered letting him see her a moment but saw from the way he held his hand he had his gun ready. Not feeling like ending up shot, she turned and raced back for the woods.

\--------------------

Sloane waited a few days before going back to get food. She decided she needed to only check on in the others on occasion. She didn’t want to be a stalker and constantly check in on them. A part of her remembered the time she told herself she relished being alone. _You just didn’t want to admit you were lonely._

She also got together food and dropped it off at the homeless camp while they slept. A little like Santa Claus maybe, but she wanted to look out for them too. They seemed nice. But she was too scared what her delusions might make her do. Considering what it made her see regarding her friends, strangers were not safe.

It was maybe two months later that she went back to see Nick’s apartment at night. She sighed when she realized from the dim lights he likely wasn’t home. _Should I check on Monroe and Rosalee? What else can I do here?_

She heard a crash while she was thinking and looked towards an alley a couple of buildings over. “You should’ve just played along, old man!”

She sighed and started towards it. _Crime never sleeps…yeesh, I sound like Batman or something. What kind of assholes attack an old man—_

“H…Help! Someone!”

Her eyes widened when she recognized the voice. _Wait…that’s my eisbieber!_ She took off faster, getting to the edge and looking down. Three younger men were advancing on Bud Wurstner, who was prone on the ground trying to get up from the garbage bags he fell on. She could see one of them reach for a knife in his belt and felt her blood boil.

“I’m going to shut you up for good—” They heard her step up on the ledge and looked in time to see her jump and land between them and bud.

“What the hell is that?!” the leader cursed, packing into them. Sloane stood to her full height on her hind legs and it felt like looking at disobedient children with how she loomed above them. She pulled back her lip in warning.

“Monster!” one of the others screamed.

She snarled and took two steps forward, and that’s all it took for them to run screaming.

Huffing, she eased back down onto her haunches. _Chickens…_ Turning her head, she opened her mouth to try and say his name but only a dull rumbling screech leaked out. Bud was staring with wide, pale eyes before he tried to scrabble back, woging in fear. _Bud? Bud, it’s me!_ She reached towards him and he closed his eyes as if expecting death. Sloane’s clawed hand dropped. Then she turned and bounded to the nearby wall. She jumped and sank her claws into the stone side of the building, pulling herself up to the roof.

The fear on Bud’s face stuck with her. She used to somewhat enjoy striking fear into wesen’s hearts as a Grimm. But to see it on a friend’s face…to know he couldn’t understand her…

_I’m little more than an animal…what did I expect? A thank you?_

She paused going back over the bridge, looking down at the Willamette below. She could barely make out the lump of her reflection in the lights shining on the water. _…what am I doing? I can’t even be around people day or night. I’m a danger during the day and I’m a monster during the night…what’s the point?_

\--------------------

“There’s not much point tormenting you when you’re like this.”

Sloane opened her eyes and glared at Maria. “Then just leave.”

“I’m in your head, I can’t,” she said. “Are you just giving up?”

“Isn’t that what you want?”

“What I want is for you to suffer,” she said, suddenly very close.

Sloane stared at her before sighing and turning over. “Yeah yeah…”

Maria glared and then reached out. Sloane gasped as she felt like something grabbed her heart and squeezed, curling up. Looking back, Maria had her hand inside her chest, squeezing. “I can make this so much worse for you.”

Sloane glared and kicked out. “I don’t remember you being this awful! You were a sweet girl!”

She moved back and laughed. “I was! Then you killed me!”

“It was an accident!”

“It was still murder! You murdered that sweet girl, and this is what I am now, because of you! Not just me, but so many others too! You Grimms claim to fight monsters, but you make so many more!”

Sloane covered her eyes, her head throbbing. “Shut up, shut up, shut UP!” she yelled. She dug her fingers hard into her arm. Sometimes the pain helped her focus. She had to get out of the house. Pulling on the hoodie she’d found in the trash; she pulled the hood up and then grabbed a bandana. She didn’t want to risk being recognized if someone saw her…

As she walked through the woods, she closed her eyes and went mostly by sound around the trees. It was a bit more calming this way. It took away a little power from the visions, though she still heard faint whispers as she walked.

“Get them out of here!”

She blinked and frowned at the yell. It didn’t sound like any of her usual horrific visions and it was quite a way a head she was pretty sure. Opening her eyes, she made her way towards the sound which was by the river. The frown deepened when she saw men tearing down the homeless camp near the bridge and pushing the others out.

“We weren’t doing anything!” Sweetpea said.

“We’re shooting here. I’m afraid you need to go,” A man in a hunter’s outfit said.

“Shooting? Like a movie or a hunt?” Maurice asked.

“Depends on how long you wait to get out of our way.”

Sloane glared and moved towards them.

“What are you going to do?” Maria asked, standing in the corner of her vision. “Kill the men?”

She paused and didn’t answer. She didn’t have to as another man came down the hill. He was older, with graying hair and a thick creole accent. “Jack! Where are your manners?” He sidled down and smiled in a friendly manner, but it felt like an act. “My apologies, mes amis! I should’ve been more specific about how I wanted them to ask you to move. Here, why don’t you come up and we’ll get y’all something to eat for the trouble, then we can go drop you off at a nice shelter in town?”

“We’d rather you piss off!” Sweetpea said.

The man kept smiling but there was an edge to his voice now. “I’m trying to be nice, my lovely lady. So please, join us for lunch. Or I might be insulted.”

Sweetpea looked angry a moment but Maurice put a hand on her shoulder. “Let us gather up a few things first…sir.”

“Of course, of course! These men will let you and then lead you to my camp. See you there,” He smiled and waved, heading back up the hill. Sloane watched him and then watched over the homeless folks as they gathered up what they had and were led by the men back into the woods. She didn’t like this and followed, just to be sure she didn’t need to intervene. She watched them be led to get some sandwiches and eat, watched over rather menacingly.

The camp itself was strange. A couple of large RVs, several cars, men, and a whole pack of dogs. One of the dogs looked towards her and growled but she glared at it and it quieted down when she tapped into her Grimm aura. _Still got it, at least…_

As they were eating, a range rover pulled up to the area and another, younger man hopped out. He looked angry from what she could tell from his body language. “I’m looking for H. Rider Grosvenor!”

The men at the camp stood and met him, putting hands against his chest to stop him. “Hold it there, buddy. We’re not taking any more visitors today.”

“I’m not a visitor, I’m a conservationist at the zoo and I want to make a complaint!”

“Oh God, not again,” one of the men groaned. “Every freakin’ time…”

The others sighed as well but kept a handout. “Regardless, you weren’t invited. This is trespassing.”

“The hell it is, he doesn’t own this forest! And if he doesn’t want me lambasting him over every bit of social media possible, about how he hasn’t met with _anyone_ from the zoo regarding this, he’ll meet with me now!”

The men glared but a woman was walking over quickly. “S-sir, please, just calm down…what is it you want to speak with Mr. Grosvenor about?”

“What else? This farce of a PR stunt he’s putting on! He’s going to hunt s-some unknown animal in the woods? This isn’t the heart of Africa circa 1886!”

“Please, calm down,” she said again, looking a little more desperate. “Mr. Grosvenor is very busy, I’m afraid you can’t just come and expect a meeting…”

“Oh, is that true?” the older man from earlier said.

“M-Mr. Grosvenor,” the woman said.

“Now Darla, I can’t just turn away someone with questions, can I? I’m all about education and healthy debate.”

“I bet you are…” the man mumbled.

“And who are you again?” Grosvenor said, smiling amiably.

“Clifford Pinchot. I work at the Portland Zoo.”

“Ah, of course! I should’ve guessed you were a conservationist.”

“I am. And I have a lot of concerns regarding this…set up.”

“Complaints it sounded like,” one of the men said.

“Those too. You put out all those fliers about hunting this “Willamette Wild Thing” everyone’s talking about without ever consulting us! Not about taking it, helping you, anything like that! It’s raised a lot of alarms with us!”

Sloane frowned. _Willamette Wild Thing? The hell is that?_

“I’m sure, I’m sure,” he nodded. “But my friends here were just finishing a nice complimentary breakfast. Why don’ you and I go talk over here in my trailer?” He put a hand around the younger man’s shoulders, smiling all the while as he led him away. Sloane didn’t like this Grosvenor man. He gave her a bad feeling. But her concern was still with Maurice and the others.

As they were finishing eating and ushered towards a van, three new individuals walked into camp—and Sloane forgot to breathe.

 _Hank, Renard…Nick…what are they doing here?!_ When she realized Nick was looking at her, her heart leapt up to her throat.

Then his face suddenly began to turn into a black dot. The dot got bigger and bigger, taking up his face like a black hole. “It’s because of him you’re like this,” Collin hissed in her ear. “If you hadn’t have tried to help him…stayed here…fallen in love, you wouldn’t be like this now. It’s his fault. You should just cut him out of your life…or cut him up.” Sloane quickly turned and ran as she felt her mind starting to cloud over, trying to get away from the voice. “What’s the matter, Sloane?! You had no trouble shooting me in the head!”

 _God, even as a hallucination you’re a self-centered asshole…_ she thought, but kept running. She didn’t want to risk getting too close or Nick figuring out who she was.

Getting back to the house, she felt her frustration mounting and threw off the bandana.

“Welcome back,” Maria said, taunting.

Sloane glared at her but then went to sit in the back room. She pushed the bureau in front of the door and then laid down, curling up on the mattress again. _Just let me sleep…_

She managed to sleep the rest of the day, till sunset and the pain making her wake up. Grumbling to herself, she considered staying indoors but there was a guilty feeling that she needed to be productive. So, she went out to walk around, maybe hunt something for future food.

It was maybe three in the morning, judging by the moon, and she’d caught a few rabbits and birds. Enough for a while she felt. But seeing the deer in the clearing gave her a bit of a thrill and temptation. _I wonder…is this what wesen feel sometimes? When they hunt in the woods?_ She hunkered down, stalking around it. She really didn’t need the deer. Likely she might scare it and let it go, but the practice was worthwhile.

Then she and the deer heard a twig snap. The deer bounded one way and she turned to head off to the next, not wanting to meet an illegal hunter or something else that night. She paused when she was already a few hundred feet away when she heard a scream and a snarl like an animal. _What…shit, what else is here?!_ Turning, she went back and then climbed up the trees nearby to get a better look. She was shocked to see a Rißfleisch tearing at a man on the ground. The man was definitely already dead, but he was carving him up still. _Son of a bitch!_ She growled, her instincts screaming at her to take him down, but she resisted. They were near that big camp, if she was found she’d be shot on sight she was sure, even without mauling the man.

 _Wait…come to think of it, that hunter…that’s the guy who said he was part of the Zoo? What’s he doing out here…and the Rißfleisch, that’s the other guy!_ She realized when he unwoged. _What the hell is going on? Wha the heck is he doing now?_ She watched as he pulled something out of a bag in the bushes nearby. He was pushing some kind of paw print into the ground around him. _Trying to throw the blame on something else? Typical…_

She huffed a little and waited till he was done and left before jumping down. She looked at the body again before sighing. _I’m sorry…if I can figure out how to get the truth out, I will. As it is, I’m stuck here…_ She padded back into the woods, heading for the house.

The next day she went out again with the bandanna around her face. She knew likely there was going to be a commotion near the body and sure enough, it was crawling with police. And sure enough, Nick and Hank were there. She felt a pit of longing as she watched them work the scene. Longing for friends, home, even the work…Normalcy, as much as it was for her being a Grimm.

There was also a longing she didn’t want to acknowledge. But she felt it seeing Nick look over the scene. _I miss you…God, this is why I hate having romantic feelings for anyone!_

“(You think you’d learn.)”

Sloane’s eyes widened. That was a voice she hadn’t heard yet, speaking in Japanese. Soft but husky, and a little lyrical. It was a voice that made her stomach drop—not in disgust or fear but in bitterness.

“… (You can ignore me all you like, but I’m still here).”

“No, you’re not,” she muttered, keeping her eyes down even as she felt a phantom hand on her shoulder.

“(Won’t you look at me…You keep acting like I never existed. It hurts…)”

Sloane gritted her teeth. “You’re not real…”

“Hey…Hey you!”

Sloane looked up and gasped when she realized Nick had spotted her. She turned and ran, but he was chasing her. _No no no! he can’t catch me! He can’t know and he can’t!_

“That’ you’re crazy or that you turn into tall, dark and ugly at night?” Collin sneered as she climbed a tree. “Oh, and up you go—you might be staying a bit more animal during the day lately.”

 _Can’t believe I ever thought his accent was cute…dumb teenage me…_ She hoisted herself up into the thickest part of the branches and pressed herself against the trunk. Nick came into view but hadn’t seen her go up, so he was looking around in confusion.

“Nick? What’s going on?” Hank called, catching up to him.

“I saw this person…I saw him yesterday too. There’s something weird about him.”

 _Him?_ She looked down. _Well, I guess I am a little androgynous in this get up…_

“Weird?”

“He was wearing a mask…” he gestured over his face. “A bandana. I couldn’t see his eyes…”

“Okay, that is kind of a weird…” Hank nodded.

_I’m doing it precisely so you two don’t recognize me!_

“I thought they were one of the homeless people they pushed out yesterday, but he keeps going deeper in the woods. He ran when he saw me yesterday too.”

_Ugh, you gotta be smart too…_

“You think he knows you are?”

“Maybe…But as a cop or a Grimm?”

“Good question…If you see him again, point him out and we’ll help get him.”

Sloane frowned and watched them walk back. When they were far enough away, she jumped down and headed back for the house. _Don’t be tempted…don’t be tempted…_

\-----------------------------

Sloane went out that night. She couldn’t stop thinking about Nick, but also about what was going on. Why had that Rißfleisch killed that zoo worker? What was this about a hunt? Nick obviously knew. Maybe she could figure out how to leave a message for him to ask for help. Six months and she was no better, so she needed someone’s help.

She’d already been heading towards the bridge when she heard a dog baying. Then several others joined it. She was confused till she saw men crashing through the woods with the dogs ahead. The same ones from that Rißfleisch’s camp…heading her way.

 _Wait…am I this “Willamette Wilde Thing”?!_ She’d never thought of herself as an animal, no matter what the form, so it hadn’t clicked. She quickly raced for the bridge across the couple of roads she usually more carefully crossed as they got closer. They stayed on her heels. She jumped when a gun shot fired and sent a spray of the sandy gravel at the river’s edge flying.

“It’s heading for the bridge!”

“Stop it!”

Sloane growled and jumped onto the tracks, using them to get more traction as she raced across. Another shot sent sparks flying on the side of the bridge and Sloane cursed. _I’m running a straight line with no cover—this isn’t going to work!_ She glanced side to side and groaned when she realized she had only one way out. _It’s just water, it’s just water…_ Another shot nearly hit her and she grunted. _It’s better than getting shot!_ She grabbed onto one of the cross bars of the bridge, thankful it was wide open between the supports on either side of the tracks. With a heft, she swung her body out of the gap and took a breath before plunging into the water. A few shots went in with her, but she managed to open her eyes—and jumped a little at the fact she had no problem seeing. _…Do I have a nictating membrane?! Geeze...never even realized…makes this better I guess, at least I can see._ She paddled through the water, able to go fast thanks to her large paws while they kept firing around where she’d gone in. She got nearly halfway from where she jumped in—so only a quarter left—before she had to come up for air.

“I think that’s it over there!”

_Dammit!_

“Follow it! I’m going drive around to try and cut it off!” the Rißfleisch yelled.

Sloane kept swimming, diving now and then to try and keep them from getting a shot at her, before she was finally able to crawl onto land. She shook off the dripping water and set out towards the streets as they followed. _Gotta find a place to hide! Or get away!_ Glancing back, she cursed when some of the dogs were getting close. Then another gun shot fired too close to one of the buildings. She cut down an alley quickly. _Screw it, up and over!_ She jumped up, singing her claws into the stone side of the building and then climbed it like a tree. One dog’s jaws snapped with an audible clack when she managed to move her back leg up out of the way in time. She scaled the wall, up to the roof, and sighed as she had a chance to catch her breath.

She’d dried quite a bit from her run, but the cool night air on damp fur made her shiver. She hunkered down, listening to the dogs below as they barked and circled. But the hunters apparently didn’t realize she was up there.

“Where did it go?!”

“I don’t know, Aaron shot at it and then it disappeared!”

“You shot in the city?!”

“Did you see that thing?! Grosvenor is right, we can’t let that thing run loose in the city!”

Sloane huffed, pacing a little and then sighed as she paced the roof. _I’m stuck here till they move on…damn! I should’ve realized, what else would they be hunting like this? But I haven’t hurt anyone! Not in this form at least…If I could see some of those visions now, I’m sure they’d try to denote the irony of a Grimm being hunted as an animal…_

She wasn’t sure how long she was pacing. It felt like too long. She was getting annoyed by the dogs barking and still trying to show them where she was hiding. _Too stupid to look up thankfully…_

Then she heard a clatter behind her—old pipes falling over by the roof door down to the building proper. She turned, hoping to scare off whoever was there, only to be faced with maybe the one person she didn’t want to see at that moment.

_Nick…no no no, what are you doing here?_

Nick looked shocked when he got an eyeful. How could he not be? But he didn’t turn away. Instead he was actually moving slowly forward. “Hey…uh, hi…Can you…understand me?”

Sloane whined. _Yes, I can understand you, but you can’t understand me!_

“Hey…hey, I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, carefully and gently. “I’m here to help. You want to help people, right? You help a friend of mine.”

_Bud? Did bud tell you? What am I saying, of course he told you…probably told half the city by now…_

“There’s some others who want to hurt you…if you come with me, I can hide you for a while. Figure something out.”

She looked at him, tempted but still unsure how to get across to him why that might not be a good idea. Then she heard more footsteps and tensed till she saw Monroe and Hank come up behind him. “Nick, we saw Grosvenor—OH MY GOD!!” Monroe swore, nearly knocking Hank over as he backpedaled.

Hank managed to grab the door frame to stay up but was gaping at the creature as well. “It’s real…”

“Guys,” Nick hissed.

Sloane looked to the edge. _Would a fall from this height kill me?_ She thought idly, wondering if this was worth it. The shorter building on the side was a bit of a jump though, and the other was a couple stories taller.

“Look, we’re not here to hurt you,” Nick said again, drawing her attention. “We just want to know what…who you are. Are you wesen?”

Sloane stared a moment before taking a breath and trying very hard to say her name. _Sloane. Sloooaaaane…no, yeah, I sound like a dying whale put through a bad speaker at a night club…_

“What is it…?” Hank asked.

“Hell if I know…” Monroe said. “I’ve…never heard of anything like this. I mean, folkloric animals exist to some extent but…I don’t even know what this could be…”

“It’s not trying to attack us. That’s the important thing,” Nick said, trying to stay patient with them. He looked back at her. “Please…we just want to help. I want to understand you…”

 _God…I want you to, too…_ she thought, her heart clenching. She felt like crying and wondered if she even could in this body.

Then they all jumped when they heard a scream. Sloane looked up and her heart clenched again and dropped when she saw Rosalee hanging from a small ledge on the other building, at least seven stories up.

“ROSALEE!!” Monroe screamed.

“Help!!” she yelled.

Sloane could see Wu and Renard extending their hands down to try and get her, but they couldn’t quite reach. “Grab on!!”

“I can’t!” she said.

Monroe was looking around, trying to find a way across. “Rosalee, we’re coming!”

“We can’t get there in time!” Hank said.

“I’m slipping!” Rosalee screamed, trying to hold on.

Sloane didn’t think. She took a few steps back then took a running leap from the edge. Her legs felt like pogo sticks and sent her flying up. Rosalee screamed as her hands slipped and she began falling, but Sloane was in time to catch her and clutch her close with one arm. The other she slapped against the side of the building, her claws extended and raking against the stone. The vibrations made her teeth tingle but she managed to stop their descent quickly with her hind legs also digging into them. Rosalee gasped but grabbed on instinctively, shaking. Sloane rumbled low, giving her a squeeze.

When she heard a gun cock her head whipped up to see the tiger-hunter aiming down. “Good evening, my ugly friend!”

_Oh hell!_

Another gun fired first though, making the hunter curse and back away when it struck the roofline close to him. Sloane could see Renard grab him and start fighting. With that opening, Sloane knew they needed to get out of the line of fire. Holding Rosalee tight, she eased back her close and they started sliding rapidly down the side of the building. Rosalee screamed and it hurt Sloane’s ears, but she had no way to tell her she was in control. When they got to the ground she moved to put Rosalee on her feet but realize to her horror she was passed out.

_Oh no…c’mon, Rosalee! This isn’t the best time! Since when were you afraid of heights?!_

“Get that thing before it kills her!” The hunter at the roof yelled down, ducking away from Wu trying to pin him to the ledge. She heard the boot steps of the other men coming to either end of the alley, guns raised. Another let go of the dogs and they were running right for Sloane with Rosalee still in her arms. Rosalee was going to get caught in the crossfire, which really defeated the purpose of saving her. But it did make Sloane angry.

Summoning up her Grimmness as much as possible, and covering Rosalee’s ears, she let out a roar to put any mythological beast to shame. It sounded like a jet engine, all the way up to the screech on the end. The men all paled and their guns went slack while the dogs whimpered, tucked tail and ran away. But the men weren’t cowed for long and repositioned their guns. That moment of hesitation was all she needed though to pick Rosalee up over her shoulder and make a run for it, jumping over the group of men on one side and heading back for the bridge. She could hear the yells and shouts and gunfire behind her, but she moved as fast as she could on three legs while supporting Rosalee.

Sloane managed to get back to the house with Rosalee before they could follow. When she found the graze on Rosalee’s arm, she bandaged it with an old first aid kit and let her sleep on the bed in the guest room. Sloane took a rest as well for a couple of hours, exhausted from her mad dash from the city.

\-----------------------

“…and you know the rest,” she sighed. She hadn’t gone to quite as much detail in some parts of course, but she managed to tell them what had happened up to that point. “I heard you guys getting close, so I went to check, figuring I’d lead you to Rosalee. But I saw the old man following you, so I was waiting to try and the best way to get you out…while following you for two hours.”

“Hey, your beasty scent is all over the place, give me a break,” Monroe said. “But you know…I should’ve realized your scent was under that one…I just didn’t…”

“…You guys should go. I can’t go with you like this…” she said.

“No,” Nick said. “Sloane, you can’t keep living out here like this either. Come back with us.”

“Did you not hear the whole ‘Volatile Tendencies’ and ‘loss of control’ thing?” she snapped.

“Doesn’t matter,” Hank said. “You’ve been out here six months with no progress and no help. You’re coming back and we’re going to figure out how to undo this like we usually do.”

“Like we usually do? With no trailer and my collection gone?”

“We’ll find a way.”

“And my house? Where am I going to stay?”

“With me,” Nick said readily. Sloane looked at him. “I’ve got an extra room with my mom staying with Adalind. And I got plenty of room for your, uh…other…look.”

Sloane stared a moment, looking hopeful before shaking her head and looking down. “…I don’t want to end up hurting you…any of you,” she said. “I’m scared of myself…”

Rosalee moved in and hugged her, petting through her hair. “We’re not scared of you…We’re not going to just let you hurt us either.”

“Yeah, we’ve been through hard bits before. We’ll get through this too,” Monroe agreed.

Sloane sighed, closing her eyes before nodding. “Okay…Let me get a few things then…”

Rosalee nodded and let go and Sloane stood to go to the back room again.

“You really think we it’s safe,” Monroe whispered when she was gone. “She’s not one to blow things out of proportion…this is probably bad.”

“I don’t know, but we have to try…” Nick sighed.

Sloane pulled down the drawings, from the wall, stuffing them into a bag. She didn’t really want to leave them behind.

“You think they’ll really be able to help you,” Maria asked. Sloane just kept folding the pictures and putting them in the pack. “You’re not going to be able to ignore us forever…we’re here to stay. We’re in your _head._ ” Sloane flinched when she felt a phantom finger dig into her temple almost like a real one. “You might be able to get us out if you put a hole here though…

Sloane shook her head and finished packing the pictures and a few other things before heading back to the others. They smiled and Rosalee took her hand as they walked back through the woods in the early morning light.. _I just have to stop listening…_

Nick’s phone rang when they were nearly to the cars and he picked up. “Wu?”

“Yeah, hey, are you guys okay? I’ve been trying to call you all night!”

“Yeah, reception out here is spotty at best…but we’re fine. Better than fine.”

“You got the beast?”

“Uh…in a way,” Nick said, glancing at Sloane who quirked her brow back. “We found Sloane.”

“…You…Oh my God,” he breathed. “She’s alive?”

“Yeah. She’s also the Wild Thing.”

“…Come again?” he said, relief replaced by utter confusion.

“It’s a lot to explain. Meet us at my place later and we can go over it.”

“Okay…but she really is alive and well?”

“She’s alive…” Nick said. He couldn’t say well. Even he knew she was pretty underweight, tired, and worse after living rough for six months.

“Okay. I’ll see you guys later—Oh, Grosvenor got away! That’s part of why I was calling, to warn you.”

“Yeah…we met with him out here. Hank and I shot him, but I think he was wearing a bulletproof vest. So, he got away from us too. After threatening to kill us all.”

“Great…we’ll keep an eye out I guess…” Wu sighed.

“All we can do for now,” he sighed back. “Talk to you later.” He hanged up and their cars came into view. “Sloane, you can ride with me.”

“…Okay,” she nodded.

“We’ll follow you guys,” Monroe said. Nick realized he still hadn’t had them over since he moved and nodded.

They headed to the car and Sloane clicked the seat belt on. Nick did the same but paused before starting the car to look at her. Sloane looked back. “…What?”

“…I’m…glad you’re here…glad you’re…”

“…You thought I died?”

“I…didn’t want to believe it. There was a point I did. When Trubel came back, she said she’d heard you “didn’t make it” and thought that meant you died. Ends up they meant you didn’t make it to where they were taking you.”

“…The guys in suits…who were they?” Sloane asked, frowning as she remembered.

Nick took a breath and started the car, backing away from the forest lot. “A group called Hadrian’s Wall. Trubel joined them when she went to Philadelphia. It’s the group Chavez was part of, trying to get you two to join.”

“…huh…so she got Trubel?”

“Yeah…but…” He started explaining what had happened on their end the last few months, the things she wasn’t there for. Chavez dying, Black Claw, the cases they’d worked. Sloane listened, shocked at several points but following along. They reached the loft first and Nick parked inside.

“…I see you set up a gym,” Sloane said, eyeing the weights and other apparatus’s with approval.

“Yeah…needed something to keep me occupied. C’mon, this way,” he led her to the elevator, typing in the code and heading up. Sloane felt a little antsy being there, and fearful. But she couldn’t deny she was excited and happy too. When they got to the loft proper she looked around.

“Wow…it’s a lot nicer from the inside.”

“Thanks. You want something to drink?”

“That’d be great, yeah,” she sighed. “Water’s fine.”

He nodded, grabbing glass and getting her some ice and water. “Sit on down.”

“Oh, I…don’t know if I should. I mean I feel bad enough about your car, but I’m kind of…rank,” she said, looking down at her shabby clothes with embarrassment.

“…I got your stuff downstairs. I can look through it for your clothes.”

She looked up in surprise and swallowed the sip she took. “You have my stuff?”

“Yeah. We cleared most things out when Adalind moved in aside from the big furniture items and kitchen things she could use. I have your clothes, pictures, knick-knacks…I was saving them for you.”

“…Thank you,” she said honestly, accepting the glass.

He smiled. “It’s the least I could do…” He jumped at little when his security system beeped and went to look. “Ah, Monroe and Rosalee pulled in.” He hit the intercom as well as elevator button to send it back down. “Hey! Come to the elevator, I’ll bring you guys up.” He waited till they were in and then hit the button again.

“It’s pretty secure here, huh?” Sloane said, watching.

“Yeah, I…got a little paranoid, I admit,” he smiled. “I wanted a place I could fortify easily.”

“No, I like it,” she nodded. “After all the BS we’ve put up with, I get it, trust me…”

Nick smiled and then looked up when the elevator doors opened again and Monroe and Rosalee came in. “Wow…nice,” Monroe nodded, looking around. “Bit more industrial, but cool.”

“Yeah, sorry I haven’t had you over sooner…”

“It’s okay, really,” he said.

“Sloane, how do you feel?” Rosalee asked.

“…Not bad actually,” she said, looking around. “I’m not seeing anything…”

“That’s good,” she smiled. “Maybe having us around does help?”

“Maybe,” she smiled. “I, uh…I’d like to get cleaned up though to be honest. I can’t help but feel a little gross now that I’m not some place I gotta worry about raccoons coming through the walls or whatever…”

“Oh, let me go back down, I’ll find some of your clothes,” Rosalee said.

“Nick told me had them…thanks.”

“Bathroom’s over here,” Nick said, leading her over to it. “You can use any of my stuff.”

She smiled and nodded, heading in. Sighing, she looked at herself in the mirror and grimaced. “Yeesh, I am looking rough…” She looked at her matted hair, the dark circles under her eyes, the various cuts and bruises across her body, and the overall dirt and grime. Sighing, she opened a few of the drawers and then pulled out a pair of scissors. She looked at them a moment, waiting to see if someone decided to mess with her…but no voice or vision came. Taking advantage of the quiet, she began work on her hair, clipping away the matted bits of platinum blonde. _Man…I haven’t had my natural hair showing in years. Come to think of it, my hair was feeling a little rough even before from all the bleaching and dying. Maybe this is good in a way…_

She was trying to figure out how to do the back when there was a knock at the door. “Sloane? I found your jeans a shirt.”

Sloane opened the door. “Thanks, Rosalee—”

“Oh!” Rosalee sucked in a breath when she saw her.

“…That bad?”

“Uh, well…Here.” She handed her the clothes and then went and grabbed a stool from the kitchen with a smile to the curious guys still in the kitchen. Going back, she sat it down and gestured. “Let me help with that before you look like a Hari Krishna.” Sloane smiled and sat. Rosalee grabbed Nick’s comb and tried to pull it through the hair only to have a hard time with it. Sloane was wincing a lot as she tried to detangle it. “…Might need to wash it first actually.”

“Ah…Okay. Let me do that and then I’ll call you back in.”

“Alright.” She nodded went back out. As she was closing the door she paused when she saw Sloane remove her shirt—and could see her ribs and spin much more prominently. Rosalee swallowed and close the door before heading over. “…Is it too early to order pizza?”

“Uh…yes. But breakfast would be good,” Monroe said.

Nick nodded and looked around. Hank was there yet. That could be good or bad. Grabbing his phone, he dialed him up. As he did he heard the shower start and glanced over to it before nodding to himself. _Nothing weird about this…Nothing weirder that is._

“Hey man. You guys home okay?”

“Yeah, but where are you?”

“Stopped to get food. Thought I’d surprise y’all with some breakfast tacos.”

Nick smiled. “You’re psychic.”

“No, just a great detective. I think I know what everyone wants.”

“Get double for Sloane!” Rosalee said.

“Okay, can do. I’ll see you in a bit then.”

“See you then,” Nick said. He hanged up and sighed. “…Double for her?”

“She’s lost a lot of weight…” She said more quietly, worriedly. Nick frowned a little and looked towards the door.

Sloane meanwhile washed thoroughly. It was the first time she was cleaning with water not from a lake. And being hot water. She sighed at how good it felt and how she was able to actually watch the layer of dirt melt off her skin. She used Nick’s shampoo and worked out the nots while it was wet, managing to finally get them out after a lot of picking with her fingers in some areas. She could tell she did get her hair pretty raggedy and sighed. _I guess I should’ve washed it first…_

When the water began to cool she sighed and turned it off. Grabbing the towel, she dried off enough she could get her clothes on without too much discomfort. But then looked at them with a frown. _These are mine? They’re almost hanging off me…I guess I wasn’t eating that great…_

Rosalee knocked on the door. “Sloane?”

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

She came in and smiled. “Feel better?”

“A lot, yeah,” she smiled.

“Good. Then let me see what I can do with your hair…”

“You know how to cut it?”

“My mother was a hairdresser. She taught me enough I think I can make you look decent for now,” she said. She started trimming the ends in the back, getting rid of the rest of the platinum blonde. “…I knew you dyed your hair, but I didn’t realize you were a brunette.”

“Yeah…Except for this,” she said wryly, tugging at the streak of white at the front.

“That’s always been there?”

“Since I was about 8…it’s genetic. Oma had it and Dierdre has it. Some of the men have had it she said too. I’ve been dying it for almost a decade though. It stands out too much.”

“I think it’s cute,” Rosalee smiled.

“Kids used to call me Bride of Frankenstein and “Skunk”.”

“Kids are idiots,” Rosalee said automatically. Sloane chuckled, letting her tilt her head this way and that while she cut.

“Okay, I think that’s good for now…eventually you can see a real professional though.”

Sloane looked up and was surprised. It was short, but stylish. It reminded her a bit of Audrey Hepburn, and the white streak swept across her brow. “I think you did pretty good, especially for a non-pro.”

She smiled and then hugged her close. “I’m just so glad you’re back…I missed you.”

Sloane smiled, sighing. “I missed you too…”

Rosalee smiled and gave her a squeeze. “Hank came with breakfast tacos by the way, come on out and eat.”

“Let me finish freshening up a bit.”

She nodded, heading back out to the others. Sloane looked at herself in the mirror again and sighed. “I’m okay…I’m okay, nothing is happening. I’ll be fine…”

Blinking, she opened her eyes to see Dierdre in the mirror in front of her. “You’re going to kill them all. Then you’ll be who you’re meant to be.” She lifted her hand, showing a bloody knife in her hand—the knife she’d used for years that Dierdre had taken with her. “Like mother, like daughter…”

Nick and the other jumped when they heard the breaking glass and rushed to the bathroom. Sloane was breathing heavily, her bare fist against the glass, bleeding down the glass in rivulets of red, her eyes black with an expression of pure hatred on her face. “Sloane!” He quickly pulled her arm away and she jolted, looking confused.

“I…what?”

Nick grabbed a towel and held it around her hand, making her hiss. “I have a first aid kit in the kitchen, in the pantry!”

“On it!” Hank said, rushing back.

“What happened?” Monroe asked, looking at the mirror in confusion.

Sloane groaned, covering her eyes. “I…the mirror, I saw…I didn’t even realize I tried to punch her…”

“Her?”

“Dierdre, she was in the mirror—I saw…” Sloane shook a little and Nick was surprised to realize she was crying. “I shouldn’t have come back…”

“Sloane…It’s okay, it’s just a mirror. I’ll replace it.”

“But what if it’s not a mirror next time?!” she shouted. “I can’t be around people! Not like this! I have no control! I need to go!” Nick grabbed her tighter when she tried to get away. “Let go! I don’t want to hurt you!”

“Then don’t leave!” he said, squeezer her. He was a little surprised at the desperation in his voice. “We’ll get through this.”

Sloane eased slightly and Hank came back and knelt down in front of her. Nick took the towel away and Hank looked at her hand. “Okay…good news is I don’t think it’s gonna need stitches. But we’ll need to bandage it up good.”

They didn’t say anything, everyone helping to clean the cut along her knuckles, apply a disinfectant and bandage it up. Nick held her the whole time and she calmed down but looked tired. When Hank was done he squeezed her shoulder. “Think you can eat something?” He asked.

“…Okay…”

He helped her up and they brought her to the kitchen, watching her eat. Nick looked at Rosalee. “Can you…call Adalind? Maybe she can help.”

She nodded, pulling out her phone. Nick watched Sloane eat slowly and felt his heart clench at how small she looked. He hadn’t anticipated her coming back like this. But he knew she was still herself—the visions, the transformations, they didn’t change that. She was scared to death of hurting them. He wouldn’t let that happen, but he was going to get her better. This wasn’t psychosis, it was a literal curse, and curses had cures.

\-------------------

Bosch walked into the lab they’d set up, looking around. “Well, how’s the set up, doc?”

Dr. Ahn looked up from going over his notes. “…It will do, for what you want.”

“Good. Got everything you need?”

“Almost…”

“Almost? We don’t like almost, Doc,” he sneered, leaning over him. He smirked when the doctor flinched and hunched over more. Reinegen of any variety were always so easy to spook. Even these “smarter” varieties. “Especially if we think you’re just stalling for time.”

“I-I’m not, really,” he said quickly. “I need abrin.”

“Abrin?” he asked, quirking his brow.

“It’s a poison…”

“Poison? We’re not asking you to make poison.”

“I’d argue that point…” Bosch glared. “B-But I won’t. Abrin is a poison, but it’s essential to create what you want. It prevents cells from causing certain proteins, usually causing painful dryness and dehydration, so if I utilize that with some of the other chemicals and herbs I can create a reverse—”

“Spare me the details,” he sighed, waving his hands. “Where do we get it?”

He swallowed. “The best source would be a plant. The Rosary Pea.”

“Rosary pea, huh?”

“Yes. It’s native to Australia and Asia…Getting an already extracted source would be rather difficult here.”

“Well, that’s not too big of a deal. We’ll get you a whole crate of them if we have to. Nothing’s too hard for our big boss,” he grinned. “You better just have everything ready to start testing it when you get them.”

“I will…” he said, nodding.

“Good. We want a batch done in time for Halloween. Give the Kehrseite a night they won’t forget!” he laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> So this one took me a bit. I kept flip flopping on what I was going to do with (to) Sloane. My first plan was her seeing the visions and really being very mentally unstable...but I worried that would be a bad representation of mental health. Then I thought about the beast idea and liked it a lot, but wondered if that was jumping the shark. Then I remembered, I'm writing this, I can do what I want! So I decided to do both. Kind of like stories like Swan Princess and another version of Beauty and the Beast where the "Beast" turns human for a little while at night. (Movie version I remember was called the Polar Bear King I think...). So Now Sloane has to deal with a lot of bloody, guilt tripping visions and turning big scary at night! Huzzah!
> 
> Grosvenor is based on Sean Connery--as Fictional legendary hunter Allan Quartermane in League of Extraordinary Gentleman. But a huge asshole and Cajun. His name comes from the author of Allan Quartermane, H. (Henry) Rider Haggard, and the last name Grosvenor is a Norman French name from "Le Grande Veneur" or "The Master Huntsman". Clifford Pinchot is a play in Gifford Pinchot, a famous nature conservationist. 
> 
> I also created a tumblr for Sloane's stuff! https://sloanescasebook.tumblr.com/ You'll find links to the chapters here but with some additional comments, as well as some old photo edits, drawings, casting ideas etc. I'm still getting some stuff together to upload so more is coming, including more illustrations of original wesen from the story! And Sloane's beast form soon too and such.


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